


Avatar ficlets and assorted Aus

by Lesemaus16



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: And this is the first time I have to tag something, Angst, Ficlet Collection, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Kindling!AU, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Tags Are Hard, Various AUs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:20:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 23,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26619607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lesemaus16/pseuds/Lesemaus16
Summary: The Gaang encountered many different people and a lot of them were influenced by the interactions. Some more and some less directly.This started out as a collection of one-shots about these people and now includes various AUs. Some of these are inspired by other works. I will, of course, list these at the start of each chapter.
Relationships: Iroh & Jee (Avatar), Jee & Zuko (Avatar), Zuko & OCs, Zuko & servants
Comments: 80
Kudos: 114





	1. Gaipan

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time posting anything on AO3. Furthermore, english isn't my first language. If I made any mistakes, be it formating, spelling, grammer or whatever, please tell me.  
> Also, most of my names are taken from various internetpages. They usually don't have any meaning to them.
> 
> I have no idea about what I should warn for. I think I overdid it a little. If you can deal with reading a newspaper, you should definitly be fine. Still, let me know if I need to adjust my warnings.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Gaipan, the Fire Nation did not have a problem with the Earth Kingdom. Everyone, however, had a problem with the rebels

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter mentions death and past rape. Nothing is graphic or detailed, there are no discussions, but it is something that can happen in war. I'm not sure if this requires extra warning. If anybody knows, please tell me.

General Leung has spent most of his career as officer in Gaipan. He and his unit had come in some years after the town had been brought under fire nation rule. He has spent more than half of his life here, has married one of the Earth Kingdom civilians (he doesn’t like the distinction – Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom, what does it matter? They are under the rule of the Firelord now, and it’s his job to enforce order and make sure people uphold the law. That _everyone_ upholds the law. No matter who their parents are, or which colour their eyes have. He won’t let anyone get away with causing discord. And he will treat everyone just the same), two children he loves and a few years left until retirement.

It would be perfect, if not for the rebels running around. Reports indicate that the group is solely comprised of kids – not that it is easy, getting reliable reports. If Leung were feeling charitable, he would call them a bunch of misguided, traumatized kids who try their best to make life hard for these they see as invaders. He might even respect them for it. But he is not feeling charitable at all.

He could understand it, if these kids were only attacking his men. He wouldn’t like it, and he would still try everything in his might to catch them and make them stop, but he understands war. It would be stupid to blame someone for killing an enemy soldier.

The problem is; they are not only killing soldiers. Civilians are just as much in danger as anyone wearing armour. This makes them terrorists. A terrorist group whose only members are children. He _knows_ some of them are not nearly old enough to be recruited, either by Earth Kingdom or Fire Nation standards. And it seems they don’t like collaborators. Granted, they have never killed anybody who looked purely earth kingdom, but everyone who has fair skin, or gold eyes or is even just wearing red, seems to be fair game.

Leung had been a part of the patrol that had picked up the remains of the merchant group. He was the one who had announced their deaths to the townspeople who had been waiting for them – and the news they would bring – for weeks.

It had made him so angry. These who were half of earth and half of fire generally did not have it easy and that their lives had found such a dramatic end incensed him. (His own children were two of the kids in town who were in danger because of being “half-bred” and it made the situation personal.)

The fact that these parts of the woods technically fell under his jurisdiction made it even worse. But how could anybody expect him and his troops to patrol such a big forest where enemies could wait on every tree? It enraged and worried him. His people – because all the people in the village were his people, his to protect and his to enforce order upon – could not use the wood as they had been doing for centuries.

No parent dared sending their child out to pick berries, to collect herbs and mushrooms if they had to fear for the children’s life. His heart still clenched when he remembered Yim and Wing. The twins had barely been fifteen. Their mother had been raped by a fire nation soldier and left her hometown, because no one had wanted anything to do with her afterwards.

(Leung would never understand how some commanders could simply ignore such behavior. These men were pigs and it was unacceptable no matter what. Even if these commanders did not care for what happened to Earth Kingdom civilians, they should at least care for the affect it had on troop discipline and the likelihood of resistance among the population. The few times one of General Leung’s men had done such a thing, he had made sure to punish them as harshly as he could.)

The only comfort the poor woman had had was that as far as anyone could tell, at least this fate had been spared the two girls.

The men did not dare venture out towards their charcoal pits alone, only in groups. Something they had done for centuries, made so much harder and took so much longer because a bunch of teenage rebels took their frustration out on civilians. None of them would take the risk of going alone. To fresh was the memory of Bo’s prone body and the bloody hole where someone had shot an arrow through his throat. His men had futilely searched the body for anything that could help them find the rebels and then given it over to his family.

If the deceased had not expressed an opinion while still alive, it was the responsibility of the family to decide if they wanted the body burnt to ashes for the dead to be reborn in Agni’s light or if they would opt for a traditional earth burial so the spirit would forever rest with the spirits of the earth.

He was contemplating if he should allow Ming to leave the village. The last letter she had gotten from her mother said that the old woman was very sick and would like to see her daughter one last time before she passed away. Usually, he would tell the patrol to add about a day of travel to their usual route and would send her with them. But the rebels got more and more cocky every day.

Just a few days ago, they had attacked an entire group of soldiers and stolen enough blasting jelly to blow up a sizable patch of wood. Luckily, the casualties this time were minor, but he still worried. If this continued, he would have to take drastic measures, perhaps even request help from the next Fire Nation stronghold and that would make life a lot harder for everyone around here.

Even so, the village was built in the bed of a river. Granted, there was only ever really water in the river if it had rained _a lot_ or if the meltwater came down from the mountains. Still, the damn protecting the village from the river had to be checked for damage at least once a year.

The last few years his men had escorted these doing the control and ensured their safety but if the presence of Fire Nation soldiers wasn’t enough to deter the terrorists anymore, the entire town would be in danger.

His musings were interrupted by one of his men storming into his office.

“General, the terrorists attacked Wah!”

“They did _what_?” General Leung almost leaped out of his chair. Wah had been his superior officer when he had started in the army. The kind old man was enjoying his retirement in the village he had spent almost his whole military career protecting and he was well liked and respected by everyone. Granted, he was as stubborn as a mule – as demonstrated by his insistence on frequently visiting the wood _alone_ , but he was basically every kid’s grandfather.

“Is he alright?”

“He is currently in the healers’ house, sir, but he is expected to make a full recovery.”

“A true miracle, with his age.” Leung grumbled, and headed to the healers’ house at a much faster pace than usual.

When he heard a commotion in the town square, he immediately went to investigate. For a moment, he could just blink. There stood a boy, clothed in blue - water tribe, his mind supplied. Blue clothes were traditionally water tribe – shouting something about them having to leave the village.

He was barely recruiting age, which meant he was just about the right age to be part of the terrorist group and obviously an outsider. So, he might be a spy. Using one of the most eye-catching people he had ever seen might be an unusual tactic, but Leung was passingly familiar with the concept of reverse psychology. So, he did the sensible thing and ordered his men to arrest him.

“Wait!” Wah was slowly making his way into the middle of the ring of spectators that had formed around the town square. “Hear him out! He is saying the rebels are going to blow up the damn! What if he is telling the truth!”

There was an uproar among the people. Blowing up the damn? Impossible! It wasn’t as if there was even any water there during this time of the year. Wah, however, insisted.

This boy was not a member of the terrorists and if there really was no danger, what would they have lost by leaving the village for a few hours. Everyone else would likely have been ignored, but Wah was far to respected for that. And if he was sure the boy was not in liege with the plague of the woods, then Leung would believe that. So, he ordered the town evacuated (and extra eyes on the water tribe boy. He wasn’t a fool.)

Never had General Leung been so glad to not have followed proper procedure and interrogated the boy before he ordered the village evacuated.

Because if he had, they would all be dead now. And thank god for military precision and bureaucracy. It made it so much easier to ensure no one was left behind and everyone who needed help moving got that help when one had detailed lists of every person.

(It made it also so much easier to keep doing his duty when all he wanted was to find his wife and children and ensure they were safe.)

It was the next best thing to a miracle that they got everybody out. If they had been just a few minutes slower, there would have been a lot of deaths.

(The boy managed to slip away in the horror of seeing their town being taken by the river. Leung would not try to find him. He had to oversee the rebuilding of a village. And the boy _had_ saved all of their lives.)


	2. Kindling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being a firebender is a good way to die. Sometimes, writing things down can be helpful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was inspired by [Kindling](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24200707) by [MuffinLance](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MuffinLance/pseuds/MuffinLance).  
> If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend it. But you should be able to understand this without it, too.
> 
> Warnings for well, general things that happen in war, like people being to young or dying. Again, nothing is graphic or detailed.

I’m not sure why I’m even writing this down. It does not make sense. It won’t change anything. But the old woman living down the street (I can’t remember her name. Why can’t I remember her name? She was such a nice lady. She doesn’t deserve to be just another forgotten name! Just like all these other people I and the rest of the world have forgotten.) said it helped her calm down.

So, I’m writing something that won’t help anybody and is probably going to be destroyed soon. It does not matter. It isn’t like I am particularly attached to it. I’m not really attached to any of my possession. (Well, as much as army supplies can be considered “mine” anyways.) I guess losing all of one’s possessions is one of the risks of being in a kindling division. Not that there is anything that is not risky in here.

Sometimes, I imagine that someday, a firebender will hear the word kindling and the only thing he will think about is something to start a fire. Not war, not death, not the frontlines. I know that wishing for anything is futile. And this is a particularly stupid wish.

Seki is right. I should focus on not dying rather than foolish dreams. Still, I think, I’m just … going to write all of this down anyways. Maybe it will help me make sense of it all. (As if there was ever anything about this that could make sense.)

The usual drafting age for both firebenders and nonbenders is fifteen. Though you can volunteer as soon as you turn thirteen. No one would usually volunteer any earlier than they have to. Unless there are unusual circumstances.

Like, say, an entire family being deported and the children being left alone. Just because the parents said something different than what children learn in school. And despite always being reminded not to tell anybody, the stupid child tells her beloved aunt. And three days later, the family is taken away and the children have to go live with their ~~hated~~ aunt. And the only way to earn money for her little brother and to go away from _that place_ is joining the army. (I miss my parents. I miss my brother. I just wish I could take him into my arms. He is nearly old enough to join the army now. I hope he doesn’t. I want him to be safe. Just for a little while longer. I can’t lose him too.)

I don’t know how it is for nonbender-units, but for all these firebenders who are not royalty, the average time of service is three years. A few months of basic training and the rest out in the field. We don’t usually retire.

If one manages to make it past their fifth year of active service, they are considered good enough for further training. Chances are they will make rank. Then, they can spend the next decades of their life barely-training new recruits or ordering kids to march towards their deaths. And if they aren’t killed in combat or crippled so badly that they are useless to the army, they will only get out after they have served for a very long time. And even in retirement, they will probably never be able to forget the horrors. (If they make it to retirement and don’t slit their throats way before.)

Seki told me that he spoke to a widow of a former general. From what she told him, I assume there hasn’t been more than a handful of non-royal firebenders who died of old age. I don’t know what I hope. To die during my first three years on a battlefield? Or to be driven to madness by ordering the death of not only enemies, but of my own comrades? I don’t know.

Seki has already made it past his fourth year. He might actually be able to survive. He is really good at firebending. He can actually heat up water with his bending. I can’t imagine how much control that has to take.

I’ve heard that among nobility, such displays are not considered to be proper firebending. Instead, they judge firebending prowess by how many fireballs they can shoot, by how far they can kick fire and by how hot they can get their fire. They are ~~stupid~~ strange. Every fool can shoot fireballs. But controlling fire is really hard.

I bet none of them had ever burn down their belongings because no one could manage to control the fire a fallen comrade has lit. Like, there is a reason kindling divisions never get supplies to carry around. If we loose control for just a moment, everything is lost.

I mean, there is a reason none of us are ever captured alive. Well, the Earth Kingdom actually has units who specialize in capturing firebenders. But only high-ranking ones. The rest of us are too much trouble to hold prisoner and we don’t know enough to be interrogated. Just fine by me.

I don’t fancy getting tortured for information and I would not like to be forced into Earth Kingdom armour and put on the front lines to be slaughtered by my own people. (Well, I’m not actually sure if the Earth Kingdom does something like that, but I know some of our divisions - Fire Nation divisions, not kindling-divisions – have done such a thing. I don’t know if the Earth Kingdom believes in retaliating in kind, but I’d rather not find out.)

We are all traumatized enough for that. I just don’t know if we are actually traumatized. Someone said our behaviour – I think he was referring to the fact that we were barely able to concentrate on the general’s speech – was an indication of trauma. But it is really hard to tell if everybody is acting the same. Besides, _no one_ listens to the general’s speeches.

Especially not if we are tired enough to fall asleep standing. Sleep is just as valued as food. Both time and supplies are always short. Just as much as bandages and healing ointments and whatever else healers use. I thought we had little of these when I was at basic training. But compared to now, we were pretty well off.

At least we don’t have as many burns to treat these days. We don’t have the time to train now and earthbenders crush people, rather than burn them. I don’t know which one is more horrible. I think fire hurts a lot more, but being buried in the ground, forever out of reach of Agni’s light? I mean, I’m not really a spiritual person, this kind of live kind of kills every tradition of honouring the spirits anyone could have, but the sun is still the source of firebending. No matter how destructive fire is.

I guess I should remember that more often.

Still, shame on everyone who claims that bending is a gift of the spirits. It’s a death sentence, wrapped up in pretty, deadly, _hurtful_ ribbons of flame. I know there has to have been a time when I didn’t know I was going to die. When birthdays were something to look forward to, because it meant I was growing up, rather than something to dread because the years I still have to live are vanishing at a way too fast pace. But I can’t remember that time.

Being a firebender means always being aware of your impending death. It means you have to hurry with everything. Not just because fire wants to burn and makes us impulsive, but because we don’t have long to live. Everything you want to experience, you have to experience fast. Dating, having sex, drinking alcohol, … we don’t have much time for either of those. I mean, we get leave – sometimes, if we survive long enough – but it is really hard to find time for anything then. These of us who still have a family they can return to will spend their time with them and everyone else just … drifts around, I guess.

I wouldn’t know. I have spent the last years with the army, the only thing about home I hear is gossip and what my brother tells me in his letters. Gossip is usually more reliable. He has to be careful what he writes, or he is going to disappear too. But no one can really stop soldiers from chatting. Not if it is one of the few activities that they can do and that keeps them from going totally insane.

It doesn’t matter that the stories are very outrageous sometimes. Hosu claimed last week that the avatar escaped from Pohai Stronghold. As if. Everyone knows no one escapes the Yuyan. Especially not on their own home turf. Like, alright, he is the avatar, but if they managed to capture him, he can’t really be all that powerful.

I still remember when our commanding officer told us the avatar was back. That he was a threat to the fire nation and needed to be captured. And not to waver if we should ever face him. I don’t know why anybody should bother.

What does it matter if we are killed by the Earth Kingdom or the avatar? This war has been going on for a hundred years and is probably going to continue for another hundred. But – there is no way to win any longer.

I don’t think so. If the Earth Kingdom isn’t going to manage to defeat us, we are going to do it ourselves. There are already so many dead, entire family lines have become extinct and so few firechildren are born. At some point, there simply won’t be enough people left to fight in the war and then the Earth Kingdom or Water Tribe can finish off the Fire Nation.

And if that doesn’t happen, there still won’t be anything left of our culture but war and I don’t want to think about what happens if a country dedicated to war suddenly has conquered the whole earth. Civil war? Slaughter? I have no idea. But I don’t see how the Fire Nation can win this.

(What I’m writing here is mildly treasonous, I think. But I don’t think they can do anything worse than sent me to the frontlines. And I’m already here.)

Frontlines are kind of a funny place to be, honestly. Once you have manged to pass from terrified to deathly calm, at least. There is no restriction on swearing. If you want so curse three times in each sentence, you can do that. Unless you are in the presence of a commanding officer. I learned so many nice words here!

There are a lot of dark jokes flying around. Helps us dealing with all that horror. My favourite one is that some of us should probably trade places with some earthbenders, so they can be forever buried in stone and our bodies can be burnt to ashes. Though the earthbenders wouldn’t rest in stone forever.

It’s always just a matter of time till the bodies are dug up by some bender using that patch of ground. That’s actually what happened to prince Lu Ten’s body, from what I heard.

According to rumour, it was the death of his son that lead then-crown-prince Iroh to abandon the siege of Ba Sing Se. Typical! Royals don’t care for commoners. If we die by the thousands, it doesn’t matter. But if it’s their own precious children, suddenly the entire war is wrong or whatever.

Really, whenever someone in a position of power tells you he cares about you, he is lying. The only thing he will ever care about is how he can best use you. It makes me want to scream.

Still, I’m actually feeling a bit better now. I might do that again. Provided I survive our next battle, of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a new style I don't have experience writing, so I'm unsure how it turned out. If you have the time please tell me what you think.
> 
> Also, there is going to be a lot more about the kindling. Maybe not right away, because it's a difficult thing to write for me, but this AU basically latched onto my brain and is now refusing to let go.


	3. Lieutenant Jee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lieutenant Jee was in charge of a swimming desaster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was not planning on posting this today, but I probably won't have as much time tomorrow.
> 
> Thanks to everyone who pointed out that pointed out that I needed to make more paragraphs. 
> 
> I had a lot of fun writing this one, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Lieutenant Jee wasn’t all that happy to be stuck on the _Wani_. He had been quite the successful Lieutenant before he had made an, ah, mistake, and was now stuck on this ship, which had been an old model back when he had started his military career and was therefore quite a few years out of date, as well as _tiny_. The sad part was that the ship was probably the thing he found least objectionable on this journey.

None of the crewmembers knew each other. Jee wasn’t sure if he was glad for that or if he regretted it. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t even think about this. But this ship was small enough that everybody knew each other after about a week at sea and the crew was … quite problematic.

A lot of them had previously served on other ships, ships from which they had been transferred for one reason or the other. Jee had served long enough to realize when there was the danger of mutiny. He just didn’t know if the men would be more content if they had someone they really knew or if it would only incensed them more. Due to not knowing each other, they had to be careful what they said and Jee was hopeful that by the time they did know each other well enough, the situation would have calmed.On the other hand, having a friend usually calmed people’s temper.Anyway, it would be his job to calm down the crew.

He understood their anger well. None of them wanted to be stuck on the ship of a disgraced, banished prince on an impossible mission. Seriously, their new captain had zero command experience and was about half as old as the youngest crew member. It was no wonder the men didn’t take him seriously.

Besides, he was acting like an absolute brat. Always shouting at people who were just doing their job, demanding virtually impossible things and sharing his bad mood. He did not have manners, had zero respect for anybody and quite frankly, should probably still be in bed nursing his wound. (And how did one manage to screw up so badly? If a bender did not have enough control, they did not train without a spotter.)

Still, though not particularly pleasant to be around, it was not the prince who was the problem. It was his uncle. The esteemed general Iroh, dragon of the west, the only general who had ever broken the outer wall of Ba Sing Se, and had undoubtedly achieved countless other things an ordinary bender could only dream about, was the most problematic thing on the ship. While Jee was sure that his presence alone would be enough to deter many an attempt at mutiny and his care for his nephew was probably the only reason the price was still alive, it made life on the ship so much harder.

While he might have been a general, he was not part of the ship’s crew and was, in fact, only here as an advisor. Which meant that they were technically having a civilian on board and _NO, the men do NOT have time for a game of Pai Sho at the moment!_

It was infuriating. The old general was highly respected in the military, but he was not officially in the chain of command. Besides the prince, who was their captain, Jee was the highest-ranking officer. Which made it really hard to deal with the general’s “requests”. There was a fucking reason the fire nation military had a clear chain of command. It was one of the reasons they were so successful.

As a former general he was supposed to _know this_ and to _stop undermining his nephew’s authority_!

Yes, he had more experience leading troops.

Yes, Jee had more experience commanding a ship.

Yes, the prince was a brat.

Yes, he was still injured.

Yes, the crew did not like him.

_Yes, every single member of this ship probably had a better idea of what to do than the prince did._

But there was no way the crew would ever come to respect the price if he wasn’t even in command of his own ship. And if the general insisted on ordering his nephew around at every opportunity, the crew would never see him as the one in charge.

Take the topic of dinner, for example. The prince was perfectly happy eating with his uncle in his cabin, as was his right as a commanding officer. His uncle had insisted that he eat at least one meal a day in the mess with the rest of the crew. Jee guessed that over the years as a war hero, the general had forgotten how this really worked. A respected commander eating with his men was seen as a sign that he cared for them and valued their presence. But a commander who had not jet earned the respect of his troops eating with them was seen as someone weak trying too hard to get his men to like him because he could not earn their respect by his deeds.

Another example were the general’s course changes. While Jee fully understood the need to change course to restock supplies (something the prince, in his inexperience and drive to find the avatar often forgot) setting a course for a harbour three days away from their original route because “they have so nice wood carvings there” was, well, not the best idea. _Wood carvings!_

Agni above, how were the men supposed to accept the prince as their captain when he allowed his uncle detours for such things? Sometimes, Jee questioned if the crewmembers were maybe not the only ones who did not respect prince Zuko and if the general believed he had a child on board.

Or well, he did not really wonder about that second bit. He knew for a fact that general Iroh viewed prince Zuko as a child. He had said as much to Lieutenant Jee. In the middle of the ship. Where anybody could hear him.

Spirits, Jee was in charge of a swimming disaster waiting to happen.

Another problem was firebending. While nonbenders were respected in the Fire Nation, a bender was still expected to be actually able to bend. Oh, any sane man would cut the prince same slack, he had just been burned really badly.

Said prince was, apparently, not a sane man. He was barely standing again when he demanded to train firebending. His teacher was the dragon of the west. It was promising, and in a few years, the prince would probably be a master. If he managed not to kill himself via overwork in the meantime.

He was impatient, such was the way of youth, and the way of firebenders especially and it was appropriate that his teacher made sure he slowed down. But damn it, the general had him practicing candle meditation. Admittedly a reasonable thing for one who had been burned and needed to connect anew with their inner fire, but not in view of the whole crew! Everyone knew the prince was already training again, he had often enough and loudly enough complained about the slow pace his uncle set. But given the fact that none of the men ever saw him on the deck, he had to train in his cabin. The options for things to train in a small, enclosed space weren’t many, and the general confirmed it when he reminded his nephew during a meal that breath was the basic of firebending and something he needed to work on. Which could only mean candle meditation. And while used by many masters in combination with more dangerous techniques, alone it was considered to be a beginner’s technique. Thus, the general managed to completely unintentionally – hopefully – cast doubt on their captains firebending prowess.

Jee dreaded the next years. He would have so much to do to keep this ship running and to meditate between the crew, the prince and his uncle. And it wasn’t even the brat’s fault. No, the most blame he could put squarely on the feet of the most experienced person on the entire ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am kind of pissed that we never got to see Zuko's crew again after the north pole. I won't accept that they all died!  
> Believe me, I'm going to write something about them too.


	4. Servants

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Over the years, the servants had created their own kind of culture. Their new Firelord seemed determinded to destroy this culture.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to [MuffinLance](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MuffinLance/pseuds/MuffinLance)  
> for coining the phrase "visiting sick relatives".
> 
> Also, the person who came up with the idea that the Fire Nation has a different way to meassure time, I'm not sure if I love or hate them. I just had to create a new way to meassure time. *insert eye roll* So, a day has ten ticks, and a tick has 90 degree.

The royal palace in the fire nation has a lot of employees. It is no wonder that over the last decades, they kind of formed their own culture.

Surviving in the palace wasn’t easy. These whose responsibility it was to hire new people made sure that they could not only do their job but had strong nerves and could keep their heads down. Servants had to be unnoticeable. If a member of the royalty noticed you, it could be a death sentence.

Mostly, nobles ignored servants. But, if they were angry, they tended to let it out on them. Over the years, they had made up quite a number of code phrases to give information discreetly to each other.

The most commonly known one was “visiting sick relatives”. It was the code for having offended someone or done something which could lead to … less than pleasant consequences. If someone had to visit sick relatives, everyone knew to help them get basic supplies and disappear as fast as they could.

The milder version was “I have important business to take care of”, which implied that someone could not keep working in their position and would either have to be reassigned or to be let go.

The worst thing anybody could ever be was “fired”. The phrase had been coined under Firelord Zilu and was, at that point, meant literally. He liked to set palace staff that had offended him in any way on fire and to warn them a few days before about their impending, cruel death. If the servant in question tried to run away, Zilu would order his guards to capture their family and burn them instead. These days, servants used it to refer to a situation which had the potential to get their families killed.

Of course, not all phrases referred to potential mortal peril. Well, actually, most did. But not all of them referred to _direct_ mortal peril. There were also phrases like “The western wing needs to be cleaned” which was a hint to avoid the eastern wing, where the Firelord’s throne room and his personal quarters were. And by extension a hint to try and avoid the Firelord.

* * *

Mad royalty was frightening. Princess Azula had been the best example of the absolute power a Firelord could have. She had banished almost the entire palace staff. But of course, she wasn’t the only one.

Jin-jin had quite the nasty burn scar from when one of the Generals had left a war meeting angry and she had been in his way.

There had been days when Firelord Sozin’s quarters had been cleaned by more than a dozen servants because he was only away for 30 degrees and in a really bad mood. No one had wanted to risk being in his room when he returned. Not after what he had done to his son. If he was willing to do that to his own family, then what would he be willing to do to these who served him?

The only members of the royal family who had never raised a hand against a servant had been prince Iroh, prince Zuko and prince Lu Ten.

Prince Zuko had been young when he had been banished. The servants had talked about him during their weekly meetings. After they had shared the news about which high ranking people to _especially_ avoid at the moment and who to help with various tasks or with getting out. They had bets. It might be kind of a morbid thing to bet about, but for some of them, it was what helped them deal. Everyone had known it would only be a matter of time until his father’s and sister’s cruelty managed to get to the young boy. Until the influence of his mother’s teachings were washed away by time and his temper flared up and he hit somebody.

Prince Iroh too, had never hurt a servant. The one time an assassin managed to get into the room of his three-year-old son, however, he had ordered all the guards (even these who had been stationed at the other side of the palace) who were on duty that night executed or thrown into prison. None of the palace staff would ever make the mistake of thinking the dragon of the west was kind. He might not be as cruel as the rest of his family, but no one got into the position he was in solely by being high born.

(Fire Lady Ursa had not been born in the royal family, but none of the staff members had any doubt that if someone had managed to harm one of her children, they would have longed for Prince Iroh’s punishment.)

Prince Lu Ten had been too young to order anybody executed. (Though he could probably have convinced his father to do it.) He had instead flirted with the palace staff. _Flirted_! The servants had learned to deal with a lot of things, but not with that. He kept them from doing their job, harassed them and no one did know how far he would go. One day Ling spent an entire tick crying in the kitchen and being comforted by one of the assistants there, because the Crown prince had kissed her.

From them on, Yoshino had made sure to only assign the old and experienced members of staff to the prince. That week, one of the old phrases got revived. “The frog is in/at/going to/…” It did not solve the problem, but it made it a little easier to handle.

* * *

When prince Zuko had returned for the first time, servants had tried to avoid him. He had been to many different places, a lot of which were probably burned down now, if previous experience with royals was anything to go by.

He wasn’t unkind, per say, but he reminded them a little too much of the dragon of the west. With an additional temper. And he was an unknown. All of these facts lead to the servants being even more wary about him than they were about the princess.

Then he disappeared and was declared a traitor. The palace was abuzz with rumours. Usually, the servants talked a lot among themselves, and some of them would hold contact with some members of the guards which would in turn talk to each other. But this time it was different. No one knew exactly what had happened and no one dared speak too loudly about it, but at the same time it was all anybody spoke about.

Then he returned in the company of the avatar, challenged his sister to an Agni Kai for the throne and became Firelord.

The servants had to speculate a lot about this one, as almost none of them had been unbanished at the time. The interesting thing was that the prince had extended a general pardon for anybody his sister had banished. (Which actually included that one guy she had banished while her brother was at sea because he had fallen down a stair she was walking down at the time.) Most guessed that he simply hadn’t had time to find new servants or to find out the exact reason each of them had been banished. There was no other explanation for why he had not excluded the Dai Li from his pardon.

* * *

Now they served a Firelord no one really knew anything about and who was about as jumpy as any war veteran.

Which did not help in the slightest.

The tailors had to adjust all of his robes three times in the first few months. At first, he had been skinny as any refugee or runaway, then he had steadily gained weight. Most of these robes he had never worn, but it was inappropriate for the Firelord to have clothes that didn’t fit him.

The kitchen staff had cried the first time they had to cook food for his companions. They had received the message that the avatar was a vegetarian and it had not been a problem to prepare something without meat.

About ten degrees later, a worried runner had burst into the kitchen, warning them that the Firelord’s guests had found the meal too spicy. The entire kitchen had frozen. Then, the head cook put on a clean apron and waited if he was called before the Firelord to explain himself. He wasn’t.

They got word that the Avatar’s group was respectfully asking if they could have some Earth Kingdom dishes in the future. It did not sound like such an impossible request and it would probably have been fine if they had someone who had grown up in the colonies on staff. But they didn’t.

Which meant that the only Earth Kingdom recipes they could find were written in a dusty tome that someone had crammed into one of the smallest, darkest corners of the entire kitchen. It was a lucky find, honestly. The book was over a hundred years old, had apparently been used by some animal for either food or nesting material and was dirty enough that it probably qualified as a health hazard. When they opened it, they had to spent about 3 degrees on each page to decipher what had been written. Then, when they finally found a recipe which wasn’t missing parts, they had to find somebody who could tell them how many ticks were a minute. And when they got to the actual cooking, no one had any idea how it was supposed to taste. Some of them claimed it didn’t taste like anything. Others pointed out that spices were exactly what their guests had complained about last time.

By the time the food was ready to be served, they head cook was near tears and several of the younger staff members had actually burst out crying. (No one got executed, though, so the food couldn’t have been too bad.)

* * *

Firelord Zuko took some getting used to.

The only guards that got assigned to him were the most experienced. Guarding a member of royalty was never a safe job. It was made all the more dangerous because no one knew yet how to avoid drawing his ire.

And also, a little because he was probably the Firelord with the most attempted assassinations in the shortest time. (Well, Firelord Hiori might have had more, but he had basically put a prize out for anybody who managed to kill him – yes, even the Fire Nation textbooks said that he had been crazy.)

The guards managed to thwart most of these. But no matter what lords might expect of them, they were only human.

The first time they had failed was in the middle of the night. Or as close as the middle of the night their new Firelord ever got. He was usually holed up with reports until well after Agni had disappeared. And then he was up with the dawn. So, when two and a half ticks before dawn their lord opened his door, they had just a moment to think “shit” before their Firelord dumped an unconscious man on the floor and asked them to bring him to the prison cells and interrogate him.

The guards not busy restraining their new prisoner immediately dropped to their knees. The oldest of them spoke: “Your majesty, I apologize and claim full responsibility. Please, Sir, …” The guard trailed off when the Firelord held up a hand. Staring at them bleary eyed and uncomprehending.

“Look, ah, whatever your name is, can I _please_ deal with this in the morning. Being nearly killed is not the best way to be woken up and I have an important meeting tomorrow. Can I _please_ just go back to sleep now?”

“Of course, your highness. We will of course be there tomorrow. Have a good night.”

Firelord Zuko made a sound that could either be an affirmative, an admonishment or simply a yawn. Maybe a sigh. Then, he closed the door.

“We are so fired!” One of the men whispered.

“You don’t know that!” his superior whispered back.

“He literally just told us that his sleep got interrupted _and_ that he has an important meeting tomorrow! And we nearly let him get killed!”

“You don’t know if we are _fired_. If we are lucky, he will only execute us, and none of the other guards on duty!”

“Yeah, he will only punish these directly responsible because he is such a kind person. And I’m an earthbender!”

The next day, after all the meetings had been finished, the Firelord asked after the assassin from the night before.

All the guards who had been on duty the night before immediately knelt down in front of the throne. The oldest of them once again spoke for them:

“Your majesty, please, my men and I claim full responsibility. It was our fault the assassin managed to enter your rooms. Please, execute us, but please, I beg you, don’t punish any of the other staff members. It was not their job to guard your rooms, the fault lies solely with us!”

Firelord Zuko frowned. A bad sign. They could only hope that they had not directed the Firelord’s attention towards the other members of the palace guards.

“I am not going to execute you.” He said almost confused. “I was just asking if you have found out anything about the man yet. Why would you think I would execute you? You did a great job so far. I never expected to have such a long time until I had to deal with an assassin by myself.”

“Sir,” the guards were now thoroughly confused “we failed in our duty. We could not protect you.”

Their Firelord shrugged. “Everyone makes a mistake, sometimes. – Heck, I should know that better than anybody else. The next assassin will not get in through the same way. I am pleased with your performance so far. Now, did you get anything out of the man?”

Their new Firelord, the guards decided, was completely unpredictable.

* * *

Yim was not supposed to be here. She was not nearly experienced enough to do the Firelord’s clothes. But the only other tailor had become ill and apparently, there was an emergency.

So, she was standing in the Firelord’s room, head bowed respectfully and trying to calm her frantically beating heart. “Ah, here. I’m sorry.”

The Firelord handed her one of his more casual robes. For a moment, Yim could only stare at the mess of rips and dirt on what had been a very expensive robe in astonishment.

“What happened?” she could not help but exclaim. Then she bit her lip. The new Firelord might not be as cruel as most of his family, but speaking to royalty without being spoken to was highly offensive.

“I, ah, I had to climb on a roof and fight against an assassin …”

Yim’s mouth once again moved without her consent. “Don’t you have guards for this? And firebending? There are no scorch marks on this!” She held her breath, and risked a short glance from underneath her lashes.

“Ah, yes, but I ah, was the one who could claim up there the easiest? And I couldn’t firebend. What if there was a nonbender walking underneath the roof? I could have injured somebody!”

Yim was speechless. “Look, just … can you salvage it? Or at least use the cloth for something different? It is a fine piece of cloth, it would be a shame if it got to waste!”

Yim calculated and thought about the usual clothes the Firelord liked to wear. “I can do that. If you don’t mind running around with something that has obviously been sewn together again?”

“No, no, that’s not a problem. Thank you.” “Of course, your majesty.”

When Yim left the Firelord’s cambers, all she could think about was how strange this new Firelord was.

* * *

The servants are confused by their new Firelord.

He has never stricken one of them, and the worst he has ever done when he was angry – and he is often angry. As Leader of a nation that has been at war who has suddenly decided to end the war, he is disliked by Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom and northern Water Tribe and only one of them could bring any sane man towards the edge, nevermind all three – was biting out words. Almost as if he didn’t want to shout at them.

And he is running away from his guards. The first time it happened, the entire royal guard was panicking. Having lost the Firelord they were supposed to be guarding was most definitely an offense punishable by death.

One of the gardeners informed them that he had seen their ruler in the garden by the turtleduck pond. Zuko was not inclined to execute any of his guards. If anything, he was feeling slightly guilty. All he had wanted was some time for himself and he had managed to almost give his guards a heart attack.

It started happening more and more often. Occasionally, the Firelord would disappear, only to be found at the most inconspicuous places. Usually the gardens, sometimes one of the unused drawing rooms. After the fifth time it happened, the guards stopped being afraid of punishment and started being exasperated instead.

Sometimes, it led to hilarious situations. One of the guardsmen once stumbled upon the Firelord standing at the foot of a set of stairs, nearly panicking and an unconscious servant next to him. The story, as it later got told, was that a young servant had fallen down the stairs and either lost consciousness immediately or shortly after the Firelord arrived. None of the servants were sure which one it had been, but it was quite lucky that Firelord Zuko was a lot milder than his father and sister.

(The guards were pretty amused that their Firelord, who had helped the avatar bring balance back to the world and who was sneakier than any assassin could ever hope to be, had freaked out this much over a simple loss of consciousness.)

* * *

It was a sign of how much of their fear the servants had lost when one of them ran up to a member of Zuko’s personal guard, completely out of breath and hastily exclaiming “The frog in the corridor leading to the north western bedroom has turned into a pig!”

“Shit!” it was the first time any of the palace staff had cursed in the presence of their Firelord.

Two of his five guards turned to Zuko “Your majesty, may we be excused for a moment?”

“Ah, sure?” Zuko watched in some confusion as the guards hurried away at a far faster pace than what was technically appropriate. What was that about pigs and frogs in the palace?

The two guardsmen almost sprinted towards said corridor. If the servant had taken the time to search for the guards, distraction had already failed.

Only when they were almost there did they slow down, letting their steps grow deliberately heavy. Rounding the corner, they saw one of the minor nobles pinning one of the younger servants to the wall, his hand up her dress and a panicked expression on her face.

Approaching, it became clear that this man was not one of these that would a guard’s presence let them deter. Hopefully, they would manage to help the girl. But if the man refused to listen, there was nothing they could so against a noble.

“Sir, I am afraid the Firelord will miss his tea servant if she is kept from her duty any longer.” The noble only grunted. The guards glanced at each other. This did not look good.

“The Firelord has enough other servers. I’m sure he will not miss this one for a while longer. He can simply get another.”

“But I did request this one.” Firelord Zuko appeared so suddenly behind the man that one of the guards wondered if he had dropped down from the ceiling. Given the fact that the three guards who should be right next to the Firelord were only now entering the corridor, it was a reasonable assumption.

The Firelord’s face was colder than any of his guards had ever seen. The noble immediately bowed. “Lord Cheng, I do not appreciate you harassing members of my staff and keeping them from their job.” The man went red.

“Your Majesty, I apologize!”

“Do not apologize to me, apologize to her!”

Lord Cheng looked up, obviously unhappy and about to protest. A glance at the Firelord’s angry face made him turn around and -grudgingly- apologize to the girl.

“You are dismissed. If you ever do something like that again, I won’t be as merciful!” The Firelord threatened. Cheng was no fool. He immediately hurried away.

Firelord Zuko dropped down next to the servant girl. “Are you alright?” She nodded mutely. One of his guards spoke up: “Your majesty, if I may, I will accompany her to the kitchen so she can get a cup of tea.”

“Of course. Tell her superior that she can take the rest of the day off if she wants.”

He waited until the girl was out of hearing range, then he turned to his guards grimly asking: “you have a phrase for this. How often does something like that happen?”

Which was how the Firelord made it an _order_ to hear about every harassment or act of violence against his staff.

* * *

The Firelord did not think much of meals.

When he didn’t have meeting over dinner or no foreign dignitaries to eat with, he was skipping them, instead choosing to spent his time doing paperwork.

His meals would be returned to the kitchen uneaten, and it was another thing that drove the kitchen staff up the walls.

It was by chance they found out that if it was anything that could reasonably be eaten one handed while focusing one’s attention on a piece of paper, the Firelord would actually eat it.

It had prompted quite the search for Firelord-appropriate meals that could be eaten while focusing almost one’s entire attention on doing paperwork.

It was a lost cause. Everything suitable fancy would result in food stains on important reports. But they couldn’t let their ruler starve himself. So, they tentatively offered him more “normal” food, something they might eat themselves. When that got no complaints, they finally had a way to make the Firelord eat enough.

Still, the first time Firelord Zuko appeared in the kitchen to make himself a pot of tea it was a great shock.

At first, nobody noticed him. Most of the people in the kitchen were eating breakfast and it was only when Pian half turned around to ask the guy at the stove if he could make more tea if he was already standing there and Firelord Zuko muttered an affirmative, that anybody realized the outsider.

The entire kitchen froze, staring at their lord. “Ah, sorry? Please, don’t let me keep you from your meals. I just wanted some tea …”

It was the head cook that got himself under control the fastest. “Would you like to join us for some breakfast, your majesty?”

To almost everyone’s complete bafflement the Firelord agreed and sat down at their table. Conversation turned awkward and stiff, the Firelord sitting there like an alien. It was only when Chen Lu started talking about her children who had started school that year that he joined in the conversation, asking her questions about what the children learned in school.

Apparently, he wanted to know how much propaganda they fed children and how he needed to adjust the curriculum, because “none of my ministers even _went_ to public school. How am I supposed to know what I need to change if I have no idea about what they even learn?”

It became sort of a ritual. The prince would do his reports over dinner and lunch if he didn’t have a meeting scheduled with someone, but he would always eat breakfast with the palace staff down in the kitchen. He would question them about their problems, and sometimes, about a month later, there would be a new law pertaining to something they had talked about.

It was strange at first, but he never acted like a royal then. The first time he had cursed, the entire kitchen had – once again – frozen. Then, Pian had laughed, and agreed that yes, Sometimes the generals could be kind of assholes. From then on, Zuko was accepted as one of them, at least a little.

To be fair, it was kind of hard to be fearfully respectful of someone who cursed like a sailor, insisted on only being called “Zuko” and who complained with them about the sometimes frankly ridiculous requests nobles had for servants. (There was no way to offer black tea without caffeine. It was biologically impossible!)

* * *

Over the last centuries, the palace staff had learned to be quiet and keep their heads down. To be respectful and only to speak when spoken to. Firelord Zuko seemed determined to destroy these traditions.

He was respectful and treated them like they were worth just as much as he was. He might be a lot younger than any other Firelord in centuries, but he was _their_ Firelord. And by Agni, woe be everyone who intended to harm him!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to clarify: Lu Ten isn't trying to be mean or something. But he is a prince and has no idea that no servant would dare to say no to the crown prince.
> 
> Comments motivate me to write.


	5. Yuyan Archers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are many stories about the Yuyan. But no outsider truly knows how they realy are.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've read a few stories where the Yuyan give a vow of silence. But I'm pretty sure there was a comic where one of them was speaking. So, they don't talk, but they could, if they wanted to.

The Yuyan archers were one the most admired and most secretive units in the entire Fire Nation. Perhaps _the_ most secretive unit. There circulated as many false stories as there were true ones about them. One of the most commonly told stories was that the Yuyan were forbidden to speak. Some of the more macabre versions even said that as soon as they had given their oaths, they had their tongues cut out. That was, of course, nonsense. Besides a few exceptions and the occasional mute person, they were all able to speak perfectly well. They just did not speak often.

Alright, they might need speech therapy if they really wanted to _talk_ , because everybody knew how hard it was to pronounce words properly if you hadn’t spoken for a few days, nevermind months or years, but they were _technically_ able to speak. Or at least make animal noises if needed.

Anyway, they had a reputation to uphold, and being silent was a lot more unsettling than making loud noises. Besides, speaking out loud could jeopardize a mission even more than not being able to say anything at all.

However, among the Yuyan, it was generally considered kind of foolish or uncultured to speak. (At least if the person next to you was fluent in sign language.) One who was speaking was not listening. One who would not listen would not learn. Not learning was foolish. And speaking without looking at people meant missing a lot of important information. It was something people rarely understood.

But seriously, how did people think the Yuyan communicated with commanders who could not speak sign? (Well, most of them actually didn’t. They had members whose job it was to speak to outsiders, so the rest didn’t have to deal with them.) Or, in some cases, with their spouses and children?

Funnily enough, the general public did not seem to have made the connection between “silent elite soldiers” and “assassins”. Honestly better. It was one of the things they didn’t speak about often. They were guards and trackers, provided occasionally support to the general troops, but assassination was just as much their job as all these other things. It was one of the downsides of being a Yuyan. The could not keep to the general fire nation code of honour because their entire training was focused on ambushing and silently killing people.

Still, being a member of the Yuyan had its perks. As special forces, they were usually kept away from the frontlines, which raised their life expectancy remarkably. And they were pretty close knit. There weren’t all that many of them. Even in Pohai Stronghold, most were normal troops.

The Yuyan were working close together and had a lot of mannerisms no one else had. All the soldiers at Pohai Stronghold learned sign language. There was no way around it if they wanted a reliable way to communicate with the archers. What they did not learn were the less than respectful signs the archers used for the commander, each other and the normal troops. Even the Firelord had a not-quite-respectful sign. (Though they took care not to let commander Shinu see it. There was no chance the man would report them for it, but they did not want to force him to choose between doing his duty to the Firelord and protecting his men.)

An admittedly strange point of pride was that there were almost no firebenders among the archers. They did not need to firebend. It was something they were fiercely proud of. Bending was something you were born with. But archery you needed to _learn and train_. It wasn’t something that was _given_ , it was something they had _earned_!

* * *

The Yuyan were not alone in their dislike for _admiral_ Zaoh. He had insulted commander Shinu, he thought he knew best how to deploy them (nevermind that the man had probably never commanded even a single mediocre archer) and acted disrespectful towards everyone around the stronghold. He had brought members of his own troops who were just as bad and none of them spoke any sing language. (Good. The entire staff in the stronghold would have felt offended otherwise.) The whole garrison of Pohai would just love to kick the _admiral_ Zaoh.

* * *

When Yoshimi and a few others were called to commander Shinu and _admiral_ Zaoh, she could feel how unwilling her comrades were. The admiral ordered them to track and capture the avatar. For some reason he thought the avatar was in the area. Or maybe he would be. As the admiral’s explanation seemed to be “because the banished prince is in the area”, no one was sure whether they had misjudged the admiral and they were pranked, or if he was indeed insane. How the heck had that man made admiral? “ **Well, let’s follow admiral loony’s orders.”** Rei signed with a lot of well-hidden amusement. Colonel Shinu shot him a look that said “We are going to speak about this”, but it wasn’t his “You are in deep trouble” look, so it was clear to everybody but admiral loony that really, he was agreeing.

* * *

They found the avatar. It was unbelievable. He was coming out of the old herbalist’s house, and they had a clear shot. The “enemy of the state number one” ( **“Way too long”** , Rei had signed **“Let’s just call him EOSO!” “W-T-F”** had been Ming’s reply. **“I’m not spelling that every time I need to refer to the avatar! Are you nuts?”** no consent had been reached yet.) had been stopped in his tracks. Then the As Of Yet Not Really Named Enemy Of The State Number One Avatar had freed himself and escaped. Hisaya would admit that the kid was severely wounding the archers’ pride. The Yuyan might enjoy a hunt, but that usually referred to tracking. This slip of a kid was evading their arrows every time! Always barely, but still. It was maddening! The Yuyan were not used to _missing_. Damn it, he hadn’t missed more than twice in a row since he had been a fresh-faced recruit and he couldn’t believe it was a little boy that had made him break that streak. And he apparently did not find them very threatening, if the fact that he still had time to splash around in the swamp had been any indication. Hisaya was viciously satisfied when they eventually managed to capture him. But even that was turned sour by the fact that if he had not wasted time searching for something in the water, he might very well have been able to escape them for far longer. Would have continued making _fools_ of them!

* * *

Tsukasa had been a Yuyan archer for most of his life. When they had managed to find the brat by the old herbalist’s house (and he just _knew_ that none of his fellow archers would say “the herbalist’s house” in any of the official reports. They would give the seldomly used, official name of the mountain. None of them wanted admiral looney to act against the mildly insane - still saner than the admiral – woman) they first slowed it down.

Then, they dropped out of the trees. Silently, as the regular soldiers in their heavy boots and unyielding armour could never hope to manage, as a Yuyan did as instinctively as breathing silently. The usual mix of confusion and shock passed over the brat’s face. But no horror – it hadn’t heard of them, then. He ran. A useless course of action, but the one almost all of their targets choose if they weren’t already dead before they even knew anybody was there.

Tsukasa’s blood was pumping adrenaline through his whole body and he could barely restrain himself from grinning in exhilaration. This was what he loved. Being the hunter, stalking his prey – or, in this case, running after it and _knowing_ there was no way it could escape.

They managed to corner the prepubescent brat in the swamp. And – yes. There was the fear he was used to seeing on his enemies faces, right before he finished them off. It was the first time he had seen it on one so young. It was strange. He did not have any children and he had never been fond of the little monsters. Still, when he wrapped the brat in rope, he made sure not to cut off the blood flow and when he threw the still struggling monster over his shoulder, he might have been a little gentler than he would usually be with an adult who showed the same amount of resistance. It did not stop the attempts at escaping. Ungrateful little brat.

* * *

The avatar got a name sign. It had not been on purpose. They had just been talking – well, signing – about the mission, and Kayo had tried-and-failed to describe the kid’s airbending. But the movements he had made, the motion of a blowing wind, had just fit. So, it kind of stuck. Besides, it wasn’t like they were going to introduce themselves to **blowing wind and arrows**. Kaya thought getting teased for his inability to describe an extinct form of bending was well worth having sign-named the last airbender.

* * *

The looney admiral had imprisoned the avatar and posted guards in front of his room. Aki was unimpressed. It wasn’t even a proper cell where he had chained the kid. It was the room where these who joined the archers prepared to give their vows. He was still able to bend. His mouth had not been muzzled and his palms were still free. Nevermind the fact that he was chained between two pots of _fire_! Aki might not be a bender, but even he knew that it was a bad idea to hold the avatar, master of all four elements, prison and not restrain his movement enough to prevent bending.

* * *

The avatar escaped. Of course he did. What else could be expected when the one responsible for holding him (which was definitely not colonel Shinu) was about as competent as a moth-lizard? When the blue spirit (whose sign among the archers became a combination of **spirit** and **Yuyan** , and seriously, that said all there was to how much respect the archers had for the most-definitely-probably-a-man) put his blades to **blowing wind and arrows** ’ throat, the whole base waited for orders.

Admiral looney ordered the gates opened. There was a silent scoff among the archers. They would easily be able to incapitate the intruder _without_ endangering the life of their prisoner. Their colonel knew this. The admiral did not. As colonel Shinu did not tell him, none of the archers felt bad about not doing anything. Only when admiral looney gave them a direct order did they shot. (None of them would ever get why he let them get away so far from the gates before he ordered them to fire. Luckily, the admiral was _not_ their responsibility, and with the escape of the avatar, odds were that he would leave them soon.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure I'm eintirely satisfied with this. I'm curious to hear your opinion. Did you like this portrayal of the Yuyan? And what so you think of the individual archers so far?


	6. Aang is terrifying?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Avatar are the good guys. Seems like not everybody really got that message.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm kind of stressed at the moment, so I didn't get around to my final round of editing yet. I appologize in advance for eventual mistakes.

Team avatar accompanied the new Firelord on his inauguration tour across the Fire Nation. All of them enjoyed it.

Seeing a nation when you didn’t have to hide was something completely different from what they had done over the summer. They could bend openly, eat the traditional (way to spicy) food, and look at all the sights.

Though, Aang didn’t get much of a chance to talk to people. They were always nervously deferential, and they did not have time to linger long enough for them to see that really, Aang was just an excitable thirteen-year-old. But it was still a little odd.

Katara didn’t think much of it, at first. She thought it was only normal for the Fire Nation. Whenever they came into a town, people would come to the main streets and look out of windows to catch a glance at their Firelord. But they also made sure to never come to close. Generally, they stood out of range of most spontaneous bending attacks. She supposed that was only natural. The last Firelord would probably have burned everyone who came to close.

It was only after they started travelling the Fire Nation without Zuko, that she realized that people seemed to avoid them. She had no idea why. But whenever they came into a town, the inhabitants would give them wide berths and a lot of people would suddenly enter houses, even when she had just seen them leave them. Sometimes even enter one that was obviously not theirs. Katara had seen people do a hundred-eighty degree turn as soon as they saw her and her friends. Shopkeepers kept their heads down, avoiding eye contact but still looked at them wearily out of the corner of their eyes.

Once, they had walked into a little town. It had been high noon, no one was outside. Only in the park, in the shade of the big trees, sat a few children, playing a game with pebbles. One of them was showing off her firebending – nothing more than sparks and tiny flickers of flame, really. Aang, in his usual cheerful manner, went over there and introduced himself, attempting to show off his marble trick.

The children honest to god flinched, scrambling away as fast as possible. One of them started to cry, being dragged away by two of the others. The one that had been firebending took a sloppy stance and raised her arms protectively. As soon as the others had found their feet and put a few meters between them, she turned around and ran after them. “Mommy! Help!”

Aang was totally lost. Katara hadn’t seen him look so heartbroken since they had told Aang that he needed to kill the Firelord. In the distance, she could see the mothers taking their children into their arms, casting looks at them and leaving hastily. She went to Aang.

“They are afraid of me. Why are they afraid of me?” he had tears in his eyes.

“I don’t know. Perhaps they thought you were just pretending to be the avatar?” Sokka guessed. And then, in an attempt to put him into a slightly better mood: “Come on, we need to find the noodle stall. I bet Toph is already waiting.”

* * *

A while later, they were all sitting at a small table, slurping noodles loudly. Well, Toph was slurping loudly. Sokka and Katara were eating properly. Aang hadn’t touched his food yet.

“I don’t understand it!” he complained, flailing. “I am the avatar. Why are they afraid of me?” From a table over, there was a snort.

They all turned their heads towards the old man. Not like ’order of the white lotus’ old, more like ‘not yet realized that he should probably die soon’ old. He had long white, a little unkempt hair, a lot of scars and a missing leg. All in all, he appeared slightly unhinged.

“Can … we help you?” Katara asked hesitantly.

“ _You?_ Helping me? No, the question is _can I help you_?”

Toph turned her head towards him. “What do you mean?”

“You are asking why people are afraid of the avatar. You are asking the wrong question. You should rather ask ‘Why _shouldn’t_ people be afraid of the avatar’. Ha, can you tell me that?” He looked quite strange, as heput his cane almost into their faces.

“That doesn’t make sense!” Katara said. “Aang defeated the Firelord. He saved the world!”

“Yes, yes, I have heard that. Everyone has heard that. That’s in the official stories about the end of the war. Allying with the banished price, who helped defeat the Firelord, and then got crowned new Firelord. Blah, blah, blah, a lot of propaganda.”

Yeah, Sokka thought sardonically. The man was definitely a little crazy. If any guard had heard him talking about Ozai like that – and Sokka just knew the guy hadn’t just started to talk like this a month ago – he would have been imprisoned, probably killed. “It’s not propaganda if it’s true!”

“Is it not?” the old man looked at him imploringly. “Anyway, that doesn’t matter. Everyone has heard of the north pole, too.” That … effectively silenced them. “You remember that? Old Yee wasn’t there, of course not, but he has heard all the stories. The widows and widowers and orphans in this village have nearly doubled after that.” Aang flinched. The old man – Yee? – continued: “bigger losses than during the entire siege of Ba Sing Se. A mighty lot of tears you have caused there. Everyone has heard.”

The entire Gaang looked a little horrified. “All of the children and adults fear that you might do that again. Release a spirit to kill everyone. You are a mighty good bridge to the spirit world, aren’t you?”

It was too much. To casual. The old man didn’t even seem angry, despite his words. More like he told a slightly amusing story. They left.

Sokka had said it was probably the best idea. Aang had wanted to stay and show the people that he wouldn’t do such a thing, but this wasn’t like Kyoshi island. It wasn’t even like Ching village. The people here weren’t distrustful or angry, they were – as far as Katara could gather – terrified. Attempting to change that would be time consuming and disappointing. It was best to leave for now and come back once they had a solution.

“Zuko”, Katara thought. “We need to speak with Zuko. Maybe he knows what to do!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, not really sure how taht chapter turned out.  
> I think it's only logical that many people would be distrustful of the Avatar. He was considered an enemy of the state after all.


	7. Halloween special

When Zuko stepped out onto the deck, he was startled to find that almost the whole crew was assembled and looking wearily out onto the ocean.

“What’s going on?” He demanded to know. “Why are you looking like you expect an attack?”

“It’s the day of the hungry ghosts.” Bik stated quietly. Zuko looked quizzically at the man.

“You mean spirit day?” while Zuko himself did not give much about these things, he knew that many old people - such as his uncle – spent the day praying. “I did not think you were that superstitious.”

“It is not superstition, sir.” Jan said empathetically. “You know how during the solstice, our world and the spirit world come close, right?” Zuko almost scoffed. Jan was not deterred. “But on the day of hungry ghosts, … well, I have no idea where they come from, but during that night, the ghosts roam free.”

Zuko still wasn’t interested in any of that nonsense. And he wasn’t shy about expressing his opinion.

For once, Bik was absolutely unimpressed with his captain’s anger. “Sir, with all due respect, the ghosts are around that night! My brother was at Ba Sing Se. **_No one_** _fought during the day of hungry ghosts!_ ” This argument did absolutely nothing to convince Zuko of it’s truth. It only said really sad things about the Fire Nation’s army. And about that of the Earth Kingdom as well, now that he thought about it.

Still, there was one thing that confused him a little. “What’s the difference between ghosts and spirits anyway?” He had never had much interest in his uncle’s stories, but he was pretty sure that the only times Iroh had mentioned ghosts, they had been synonymous with spirits.

“Spirits are either inhuman beings or the … well, souls of the deceased, I suppose. But ghosts …” Bik shuddered. “They are the restless death. These who died without honor. These who were unjustly killed. These who were never laid to rest. And most of them are angry. They hunger for vengeance and they thirst for revenge. And if we can’t appease them …”

“So, this is the reason people pray? To calm down the ghosts?”

“That’s what we would do if we were in the homelands.” Jee confirmed grimly. “But we are at sea. And what’s worse, we are close to the eastern airtemple.”

Alright, Zuko could kind of understand the men’s worry. If this airtemple was anything like the others they had visited, there were certainly a lot of unburned dead there.

“What are we going to do?” Because Zuko might be skeptical about all of this, but he was the ship’s captain. If his men were genuinely worried, he needed to do what he could do to assuage their worries.

“We’ve placed protection spells and sacred symbols all over the ship.” Jee made a sweeping gesture that was supposed to encompass the entire ship. Zuko was a little annoyed that he had apparently missed such a thing, but whatever.

“All we con do now is pray and hope it’s enough.”

* * *

“Say Hinata,” Jin asked her friend “Do you have any plans for tonight?”

“No, I don’t.” the other girl replied.

Jin looked at her, frowning. “You want to stay over at my place? No one should be alone tonight!”

Hinata nodded, a little relieved. “Thanks. I admit, I was feeling a little anxious, thinking about tonight. But I didn’t want to impose on you.”

“You are never imposing.” Jin assured her, then glanced worriedly up at the darkening sky. “Come on, let’s hurry up. I still need to place the candles and incense around the apartment.”

Hinata nodded, glancing up at the sky as well. Then, in a noticeable lower voice, she stated: “I think tonight is about the only night I’m really glad we have the Dai Li.”

Jin nodded, looking around reflexively. No green uniforms in sight. And really, she knew that during this night, the Dai Li would not arrest any civilians. They would be too busy with all the malicious spirits and ghosts that had chosen Ba Sing Se as their own personal playing ground for the night.

* * *

“Mum, did you place the bred on the patio?”

“All done, honey.” Song’s mother replied. “You ready to make the rounds?”

“Of course.” Song smiled. She liked the night of return. It was a great night for cleansing the house. And putting out sweets and bred as an offering for the dead was a well-loved ritual. It was always interesting to see how much of it was still there in the morning.

* * *

Omashu might be the territory of the crazy King Bumi, but the craziness of the living did not stop the dead.

However, everybody sensible knew that you needed to be prepared. During the war, the situation had gotten progressively worse.

Now, during the restless night, the entire city was covered in grotesque faces.

They were made from clay or stone, for nobles sometimes even from marble or gems.

They existed as masks or in form of jars.

As paintings and sketches.

Occasionally, they were even put into the walls of houses. Though usually only if you had a _really_ good earthbender at hand. No one wanted these horrible grimaces there for the rest of the year.

Some people also holed out pumpnips, cut in faces and placed candles inside. It was a very controversial tradition, since flames were now associated with the Fire Nation. But no one could deny that evil spirits disliked flames. And keeping evil out was a priority in the restless night.


	8. Yuyan and Toph

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Yuyan do not like people who do not listen. Toph is very good at listening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we are revisiting the Yuyan. I'm reusing them, because i'm too lazy to create new ones.
> 
> My apologies for the late update. This week has been very stressful so far, and it's not looking like it will get better.

After the war, Firelord Zuko and his friends, including the avatar, made sure to visit the most important outpost of the Fire Nation to ensure they got the message of the end of the war.

One of these included Pohai Stronghold where the Yuyan archers had their base.

The entire Gaang was nervous. After all, it was the Yuyan who had held Aang prisoner and it had been Zuko who had gotten him out.

The trouble started when they entered the meeting room. Colonel Shinu had greeted them politely but none of the archers seemed particularly friendly.

Unfortunately, the Firelord and the Colonel had left for the Colonel’s office and planned to later make a trip to the town.

Zuko said he trusted his friends to start talking to the Yuyan and to ah, make friends? He knew Aang was good at that and he had a feeling it wold come in handy.

They sat awkwardly in the room for a few minutes, then one of the archers signed something. One of the men started talking: “Our compliments to the avatar for escaping our facility.” Another one of the tattooed men signed. “Though he would not have managed that if we had had a more competent leader at the time.”

* * *

As soon as Ryo had translated these words, the waterbender’s hands went to her side and she tensed.

Yoshimi sighed inwardly. There was the reason the Yuyan did not talk. None of the group seemed to have caught on to the fact that they had just complimented the avatar. And they did not get Rei’s attempt to ease the tension by teasing. Why could speaking people never just listen?

She thought about what would be least likely to be misinterpreted, then turned to the water tribe siblings **“I trust you recovered from your illness?”** Ryo translated. “how did you know that we were ill?” The waterbender demanded to know.

**“Your friend visited the old healer. We later heard that you were travelling with him at the time.”**

More tense silence. Great. Kayo signed a little hesitant **“You think he believes we might have harmed the old lady?”**

It actually was a valid interpretation. After all, potential retribution was the reason none of them had told Admiral loony where exactly they had found the avatar. “You need not worry. None of us have harmed the healer who helped you.”

Judging by the paling of the avatar’s face, that had not been helpful.

The water tribe boy scoffed. “Of course, the Fire Nation would be honourless enough to attack a healer for helping an enemy!” Judging by his quiet voice, it was not meant to be heard by anyone outside his group.

The Yuyan however, worked and lived in silence. Their hearing was a lot better than that of your average person. And they were deeply offended now.

If they had wanted to harm the old women, it would have been for helping injured earth kingdom soldiers, not for helping a boy whose identity she did not know.

Even then, none of them had ever raised their bow against her or made any move to threaten her. In fact, most of them made sure to stay away from that mountain if there was the probability that she was healing their enemies. Plausible deniability and all that.

Hisaya was busily signing all that and a lot of insults thrown in for good measure. Ryo tried calming him down and adamantly refusing to translate any of this. The other archers joined in in the discussion about what to reply to these insults.

Because Yuyan might not be able to uphold the traditional values of Fire Nation honour, but to call them honourless was just as insulting towards them as towards any other person and if these kids were not the Firelord’s friends they would demand retribution.

“Hey!” the shouting avatar rudely interrupted them. “Can you maybe stop signing in that weird language and just talk to us!”

Their synchronised **“No!”** must have been understandable even for these who could not speak with their hands, because the waterbender exploded.

“This is of no use! They imprisoned Aang and now they are just angry because they lost him and are petty enough not to speak anymore! Come on, Aang, let’s go!” Then she grabbed the avatar’s sleeve and dragged him out of the room.

The water tribe boy turned to them: “You are not going to speak with us, right?”

As if to prove the boy’s sister right. Ryo pointedly signed **“No**.” The boy left.

The only one still in the room with the archers now was the blind earthbender who had kept to the background and who none of the Yuyan blamed for frowning. Not even being able to see what they were doing with their hands must be hard, and they were willing to make concessions to her.

* * *

Zuko had only just come back from his trip with Colonel Shinu when he was approached by an angry Katara, an annoyed Sokka and a kind of flustered Aang.

“Zuko!” Katara started to complain “none of these people have the decency to speak to us!” Zuko shot a confused look at Shinu, who shrugged. He had made sure to assign one of his “speakers” to the group and he had no idea what could have made Ryo refuse to translate.

“Maybe we should talk to my men together.” He suggested. If nothing else, he and the Firelord could order them to speak. 

* * *

  
They did not encounter a single archer on their way to the meeting room. Besides the usual guard patrol, the corridors were empty. Shinu wasn’t sure if that was because of the Firelord’s presence, the presence of the avatar and his companions (and where was the earthbender? Shouldn’t she be with them?) or if something entirely different was going on.

The meeting hall was empty as well. There were no people around who could tell them were everyone was. They went searching. 

* * *

  
They found almost half the stronghold at the trainingsfields. And their missing earthbender. Who was holding a bow.

A few yards away stood a stone with carved circles and arrows littered around. Kayo stood on her shoulder, adjusting her grip on the bow. As soon as Toph’s hand left the bowstring the arrow flew. It managed to hit right in the middle of the stone target.

Kayo made a questioning motion with his entire body, rather than just his hands. Toph shot him a grin. Hisaya gave her a disapproving look, freed the arrow from where it had hit the target and whacked her over the head with it.

The girl just laughed and put it into the arrow again. Then she pointed towards their slowly approaching group.

“What is going on?” Colonel Shinu demanded to know.

Rei signed, obviously very amused **“We are teaching listening-metal how to shoot. She is using metallbending to make sure she hits the target and Hisaya is getting offended.”**

Hisaya’s answer was a little overexaggerated, almost as if he was talking to a new recruit **“She has a lot of potential but she can’t just cheat. Yuyan don’t need bending to be dangerous!”**

Shinu felt a headache coming. “Lady Katara tells me you were refusing to talk to her and her companions. And now you are teaching Lady Beifong how to shot?”

Ryo answered luckily aloud, this time “None of them were listening to what I was saying. They were insulting and did not let us discuss the best way to explain things. Lady Toph might be blind, but she is very good at listening what we actually want to convey.”

“Ah, **speaking-loudly** , you are soooo much more nicer than **humourless** is."

Shinu did not bother paying attention to Ryo translating Hisaya’s protest that “more nicer” was not actually proper grammar. He was more focused on the fact that the earthbender had apparently learned his men’s name signs.

He turned to a somewhat bemused Firelord. “It seems lady Beifong has managed to befriend my men.”

Zuko nodded. “Certainly seems like it.”

Both leaders were adamantly refusing to notice Toph, asking Ming how to tell someone that they should “fucking stop calling me Beifong, I am the damn blind bandit, the best earthbender of the world and inventor of metalbending! Call me badass extraordinary Toph!”

Shinu got the feeling the earthbender would stay with them for longer than the Firelord and the rest of his companions.


	9. The airship's crew

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the avatar had defeated the Firelord, there was the matter of the airships.  
> The staff and soldiers were not happy about being captured.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have you ever considered how many people likely died when Sokka, Suki and Toph destroyed these airships? I didn't until I rewatched the episode. You remember the guy who was so very enthusiastic about getting a birthdayparty? He wore heavy armor. Odds are he drowned. On his birthday.  
> This really bothers me.

The day of the comet had probably been the worst day of Yui’s life.

She had been a mechanist on one of the airships. She had been lucky. The ship she had served on had not gotten too damaged.

Which wasn’t really saying much, given that the more damaged ships had exploded, been crushed to pieces, had crashed to the ground, been sliced cleanly in half … yeah, being relatively undamaged in this case meant that it would have to be repaired, but could still be salvaged. Probably. With a lot of work.

Still, she and her crewmates had gotten lucky. They had been one of the last airships in the fleet’s formation.

They got captured, rather than wrecked. Not that being captured was such a great situation to be in.

They had all seen what had happened to the ships in front of them. And they had seen that the avatar had defeated the Firelord - erm, Phoenix King.

So, when the avatar, the boy in Water Tribe blue, the blind girl in Earth Kingdom green and the other girl in … Fire Nation red? demanded the ship for their return with the captured Fire Lo… ahem, the captured Phoenix King, to Ba Sing Se, not even the soldiers attempted to stop them.

In fact, most of them made sure to get out of sight as quickly as possible.

And no one tried to resist when the blind girl started to herd them together into the bigger rooms and _bent the metal doors shut_! She was absolutely _terrifying_!

* * *

From what Yuuto could make out, there was no pattern for who got put together into a room, besides the fact that they had been close. He could see mechanists and soldiers, as well as a few other members of the supporting staff, in the room.

The atmosphere was tense. No one had any idea what would happen now.

A few of the non-combatants with less strong nerves curled up against the wall. It was a little worrying how small a few of them could make themselves. Probably had worked under some of the less kind commanders. Or simply terrified out of their mind. That was a distinct possibility. At least none of them were crying – yet.

* * *

Sora was - contrary to almost everyone in this room – calm.

He had been a soldier for most of his life, had actually been in Earth Kingdom captivity and had managed to get out again.

And currently, he was tired enough to fall asleep almost standing. This day had been tiring and long, and now that the power of the comet had left his body, he felt cold and exhausted.

Still, it looked like he was the most senior person in the room, he couldn’t break down yet. These people needed _someone_ to keep a clear head.

So, he took a step away from the wall, straightened up and took charge.

* * *

The Fire Nation might be the instigator of a century long war, and a lot of their commanders might be cruel, but they had quite the good comradeship between each other. (Well, most of the time.)

It was self-evident for them that the more experienced soldiers defended the new ones, and that all of them protected the noncombatants.

So, it was only natural that when the first people put their heads through the door, the youngest people got shoved to the wall, where they could be defended, and the firebenders stepped to the front.

(It did not matter that they had no way to defend them if the Earth Kingdom people decided to do – well, anything, really. And damn it, firebenders hated it to be helpless. Probably even more than anyone else. Fire was being _active_ , not _sitting around_ and _waiting_!)

* * *

When the blue dressed man and his companion entered “their” room, they immediately took defensive positions.

Everyone besides Makoto. He hid behind everyone else. It was dishonorable.

The entire room turned their disapproval towards Makoto.

While still keeping their attention on the two men who had entered. And yes, it required quite a degree of skill to be able to do that. But if you worked with so many other people in positions where you needed to keep your attention on what you were doing, after a while, you learned to communicate via mental focus. More or less.

Kano stood in front of the group. He was one of the oldest people here. It was his duty.

The two men seized the group up. They, in turn, did the same.

One was shirtless. The other wore blue and white clothes with … was that supposed to be a lotus on the man’s chests? Why would anybody … not right now, focus.

The old man he didn’t know. The younger one … wait. Was that … “Lord Piandao?” he blurted out. Granted, he had only seen the lord of his province on pictures, but he was pretty sure he was right. The man mustered him calmly. “Yes, I am Piandao of Shu-Jing.”

Okay. Great. Kano had no idea what he would actually do with this information now. “What’s happening?” he demanded to know.

Granted, not the most appropriate reaction to meeting your province lord, but he was fed up, tired, and just hoped that the avatar would not decide to retaliate against the Fire Nation in the same way the Fire Nation retaliated against rebels. Had retaliated against rebels?

He wasn’t sure if the war was over or still going on. He wasn’t sure about anything at the moment. And just thinking about it gave him a headache.

* * *

“You are prisoners of the Earth Kingdom now.” The old man declared. He was not wearing a top, only green trousers.

A small part of Hina’s mind found that inexplicably inappropriate. Another, even smaller part protest that it was really not her place to criticize the fashion sense of their captors. Who knew, maybe that was currently in style in the Earth Kingdom.

The rest of her was trying not to panic at the fact that they were now prisoners of the Earth Kingdom. The Earth Kingdom! She shuddered. She had heard stories, and if there was one thing she never wanted to experience … well, it didn’t seem like she would get any say in the matter.

Lord Piandao – and wasn’t that mind blowing, having a fire nation noble in whatever weird Earth Kingdom … group or movement that was – seemed to correctly identify the tense atmosphere.

“Do not worry. The war is over. You will soon be able to return back home.”

Well, what should anybody say to that? They could either trust in a Fire Nation Lord who was a traitor and calm down, or they could decide not to trust him and panic. Either way, the outcome would be the same. They would still be imprisoned.

* * *

Piandao looked at the men and women being led past him and suppressed a sigh. He hadn’t been lying. The war was over. The men should be able to go back home soon. But soon was a relative term.

He admitted, it had been quite lucky for the Earth Kingdom to suddenly have so many Fire Nation prisoners more. It would make an eventual exchange more equal.

Still, it hurt to see his people being led away to prison. He cast one last look at them, then turned around to go back to the others. There was a lot of work to do still.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My personal ATLA universe is starting to grow. I can see points I'm sticking to throughout my drafts. Any ideas for worldbuilding you particularly like and wouldn’t mind sharing? I might have some use for them.


	10. Kindling Zuko

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Commander Katsuo muses about recruit Li, also known as sergeant prince.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm terrible sorry for not posting sooner. Let's just say 2020 hit me hard and I had no motivation to write. 
> 
> This takes place directly after [Catch a Tiger](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24246931) by [MuffinLance](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MuffinLance/pseuds/MuffinLance), where Zuko is captured by Jet and fred by team avatar. He promised to try and avoid giving information about them. But he also said he didn't know the commander and kind of implied he might use force to get the indormation.

Commander Katsuo had not had a good few days.

He had been expecting a group of new soldiers with a few barrels of blasting jelly. (Katsuo did not want to know who had assigned a bunch of kindling to transport highly explosive material, when usually they weren’t even trusted to carry around supplies. He was almost tempted to call it a suicide mission, but for the fact that recruit Li was part of the group.)

When said soldiers finally appeared at camp, they were sporting various injuries and had lost both their cargo and Li.

All of them were clearly nervous and expecting retribution for their failure. Commander Katsuo knew that most commanders would put them on punishment detail. But … he remembered being part of the normal ranks. He hadn’t been there long, but it had been long enough to get a good impression of how the military worked. He put on a strict expression.

“Technically, you weren’t under my command when you failed your mission. This time, I will let you off with a warning. Report to the barracks and don’t make any more trouble. Dismissed.”

As soon as he was alone again he sighed and picked up the forms for lost supplies. Doing paperwork was something no officer could get around. He hesitated over the MIA forms, then decided to wait a while longer till he reported Li missing. The ~~man~~ boy had a reputation. He could justify the delay.

* * *

Two days later, when he had just finished a pile of reports, one of his men entered his office.

“Sir, there is a missing boy for you.” As the man seemed to be in a good mood Katsuo did not immediately panic. He was kind of surprised when, instead of a parent worrying about a missing child or a boy searching for his parents, a young man entered the tent. Looking very frazzled and sporting scorched sleeves.

“Sir, Li reporting in.” Commander Katsuo could do nothing but stare for a moment. Then he shook himself out of his stupor.

“You are two days late, soldier. Report!”

* * *

The report was a little disorderly. Li had apparently been captured by the terrorists hiding in the woods and managed to overhear them talking about their plans to blow up the damn. So, he had escaped and prevented them from putting their plan into action.

He claimed not to remember much, citing a head wound and a concussion he had gotten when he had been taken prisoner. It was obvious he was lying. His concussion was not nearly as bad as he wanted to make Katsuo believe, otherwise he would not be able to speak so coherently.

The young man obviously knew he did not fool the commander. His entire posture was tense, and he looked like he expected a blow

“When you escaped and prevented their plan from succeeding, were you alone?”

“I’m afraid I can’t really remember, sir. But I don’t know why one of them would have helped me.”

It was clear as day the boy was hiding something. Probably information about the enemy. Katsuo knew that he should press the issue, that most of his colleagues would not hesitate to use physical force to get the information if it became necessary. He reached for a form on his desk.

“How long have you been serving?”

“Almost three years now.” The kid’s posture grew even more stiff. This particular question usually meant nothing good for a kindling.

“Alright, dismissed. Head to the infirmary.” The boy nodded tersely and started walking out.

“And Li?” The commander did not get a reaction. With a roll of his eyes (because really, it was utterly ridiculous) he called again. “Sergeant Prince?”

The boy stopped, but did not turn around. “Don’t die. You have potential. I want to have you as a colleague one day.”

The boy left without another word. Katsuo understood.

As long as Firelord Ozai reigned, he would never become anything more than a simple soldier on the frontlines. However, with the avatar’s return, he doubted Ozai would be Firelord for much longer.

While the dragon of the west might not stop the war, perhaps it would be enough to let them all admit to the worst kept secret in the history of the army and to allow prince Zuko to use his name once again.

And it might be enough to get Li in a position to finally be promoted.

The commander had always been a rather optimistic person and prone to foolish hope.

(He did not allow himself to think that this boy, this man, this _kindling_ would end the war without a doubt. He was foolish, but not _that_ foolish.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, if you can spare the time, leave a comment.


	11. Fire Nation accupaton

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Fire Nation is dangerous and you don't want to get in their way. But they arent monsters, and they keep watch over their people

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, you probably noted that I'm not updating as regularly as I used to. I'm sorry, but I don't see that changing. Real life is stressful and knowing that I have to post something is stressing me out even more. I will still try to get out one chapter per week, but I can't keep to a special day. I hope you can understand that. 
> 
> Now, let's start the december with something a little fluffier than last week.

People in general had a bad opinion of the Fire Nation. And who could blame them?

It had been the Fire Nation who had killed all the airbenders, it had been the Fire Nation who raided the southern Water Tribe and took away their waterbenders, it was the Fire Nation who were attacking the Earth Kingdom.

They were considered to be honourless and cruel, quick to strike and without mercy.

All of these were true. There were honourless soldiers, there were these who were cruel. Fire was active, attacking, different from both water and earth who would rather wait and let their enemy have the first strike. And they didn’t show mercy. Not on the battlefield, not in dealing with traitors, not in their treatment of rebels. They raped and murdered and plundered and burned down villages. All of these stories were true. But contrary to what the Earth Kingdom command might want people to think, they were not all monsters. Opposing them was dangerous, yes. But it was a lot safer to be in an invaded town than in one which they were trying to invade.

The Fire Nation didn’t give back land. The towns they occupied, they made sure to hold. It was a rare exception that the earth army managed to win back one of them. If you were in a city as it got invaded, the Fire Nation considered you to be in one of _their_ cities. Which made you _their_ responsibility.

One of the most important things for the Fire Nation was order. It kind of made sense. Water took the way of least resistance. Earth was calm and usually didn’t move on its own. Fire grew and changed and burned. A lack of order and structure might be acceptable to water and earth, but it could pose a deathly danger to fire.

There was no army better organized than the fire army, there were no soldiers as efficient as these of the Fire Nation. And there were few towns as well structured as these under a capable Fire Nation commander.

* * *

The Fire Nation had a pattern. Invade a town, make sure there is no resistance. (This one could look different, depending on who, when and where. Towns with earthbenders were more likely to be treated harshly, especially if they had tried to resist.) Establish their rule. They took the administration that was already there, added in whatever they felt was missing and appointed their own governor. Sometimes somebody from the Fire Nation. Sometimes an Earth Kingdom citizen they considered trustworthy. Then they mostly left the towns to their own devises, only demanding taxes and keeping a few soldiers for control.

This was what had happened to Minhai town. They had been invaded less than a month ago, but there hadn’t been much in the way of resistance. It was a farming village. All the men had been able to do was picking up their farming tools and grimly waiting for their approaching fate. When the Fire Nation commander had ordered them to surrender and had promised not to harm anybody if they didn’t resist, well, possibly dying was still a better option than definitely dying. They had surrendered. No one had died.

* * *

Chau had been patrolling the village. It was one of the more pleasant assignments he had since he had been conscripted into the army.

The take-over had been peaceful, no casualties on either side – a miracle. He didn’t like killing anybody. But he would do his duty to his country.

He passed a few small gardens. It was always interesting to see the different plants and decorations in the gardens across the earth kingdom. All of them so different from these in the Fire Nation.

From the other side of a corner, he heard the voices of children playing.

“Not fair, you were the earthbender last time!”

“I wasn’t! You are always saying that! It’s my turn to be earthbender!”

“Guys, I can be the firebender this time…”

“You are a girl! We have to rescue you! You can’t be a soldier!”

“Go sit over there until I rescue you.”

“Not fair!” It was clearly a protest. Even if it was grumbled. Chau frowned. This was definitely something he had to take care of.

He went around the corner towards the garden where two boys, no more than eight years old, were wrangling while a girl (who seemed just a little younger) was sitting a few yards away, sulking.

“Take that you stupid firebender!”

“No, the earthbender is too strong for me!”

Chau cleared his throat, watching as the boys looked up and – upon seeing his uniform – nervously backed away. He looked at them sternly.

“You should not play these loud games outside.” He chided them. “I could hear you clear around the corner. You are disturbing people. I expect you to be more silent in the future, alright?”

They hastily nodded, shuffling backwards. The girl was looking at him slightly wary, but not nearly as intimidated as her brothers. Chau looked at her.

“My sister is a commander in the home guard.” He offered. “She spends her days catching thieves and other law-breakers.” He gave the girl a wry smile, and whispered conspiratorially “No one in my family would ever want to offend her. They are all too intimidated by her.”

“Really? Even you?” It was almost cute how eager she sounded.

“Even me.” He confirmed. “Now, shouldn’t you go to your mother?”

He watched as the girl beamed brightly and ran after her brothers. Mission accomplished. Another Earth Kingdom girl who would question their old-fashioned gender stereotypes. He nodded curtly at the woman hurrying towards her children, a worried expression on her face. He trusted she would ensure that they stopped playing ‘bad firebender, good earthbender’ in her garden.

* * *

As often as something _happened_ when the Fire Nation was attacking a place, as little tolerance did they have if somebody did something like that in one of _their_ cities. It didn’t matter if that person was Earth Kingdom or Fire Nation, if something like rape was brought to their attention, they acted swiftly and with _prejudice_.

Admittedly, a lot of women who experienced violence from men didn’t report it, not believing that it would help, fearing retribution from angry soldiers or simply – not knowing they could report it.

Things like pickpocketing and murder were obviously investigated, they even requested the aid of the local law enforcement if at all possible.

What they had no tolerance for, and where they didn’t wait for locals (because according to them, the Earth Kingdom was a backwater society, believing that a family’s business was their own and thus enabling abusive behavior towards children and wives) was if they suspected that a man was abusing his child or wife. In these cases, they would not hesitate to break down doors. Civilized, of course, they were occupying the town, not attempting to conquer it.

Everyone in Minhai had known about the situation of Wei’s family. They sometimes heard screams, and they could see the marks clear as day. But it wasn’t their responsibility. As long as Wei didn’t break any laws – which they were sure he wouldn’t – he was free to chastise his wife and daughter.

The Fire Nation didn’t agree with the assessment. They had been in town less than a fortnight, when they got wind of what was going on in Wei’s house. Less that twenty-four hours later, his wife and daughter, as well as all the neighbors, had been questioned. The soldiers had detained Wei, who was now awaiting his trial. And it had been sorted out how his family was supposed to make a living, now that the ‘man in the house’ was gone.

* * *

After a heavy rainstorm, there was a mudslide. Half of the town was buried under it. It wasn’t the first time something like that had happed, far from it. But it hadn’t been this bad for decades.

Digging out people buried would be a job for the earthbenders in any other town. The few old men, young boys and untrained girls were not nearly enough, however. Everybody who could lift a shovel helped to move the mud aside. Those who couldn’t, for whatever reason, tried to get the survivors warm again and to find a place for them to stay.

This time, it was especially bad, because of the sheer number of buried and suddenly homeless people.

Not a single Fire Nation soldier protested when they were ordered to help. They took shovels and started removing mud. Organized as always. Some of them took it upon themselves to help find temporary lodgings for the dug-out people. (They managed to get most of them out. So many, in fact, that some of them ended up sleeping in one of the soldiers’ barracks.)

All through the next days of removing mud and rebuilding homes, there were always Fire Nation soldiers among the workers.

* * *

The Fire Nation was dangerous, and ruthless in their attempts to conquer the world. But what they were holding was theirs. And they would not tolerate anybody (or anything) messing up their lands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it. Comments are very much appreciated.


	12. Atrocities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The war has been going on for a hunred years, and the Fire nation has commited various attrocities. however, the Earth Kingdom isn't as innocent as they would like you to believe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a companionpiece to the last chapter. However, it is basically the opposite in tone. I reasearched war crimes for this chapter.   
> Warnings for allusions to rape, deportation and killing of prisoners and civilians. Nothing graphic.

The Fire Nation had been at war with the rest of the world for the past hundred years. They were universally hated and feared. Every child knew that they were the bad guys. Sooner or later, they learnt of all the atrocities committed by the Fire Nation army. But if one thought they were the only ones doing horrible things, they were deeply wrong.

* * *

Akako was a war child. That was the best description.

Usually, war children were children of the Earth Kingdom whose parents had been raped by Fire Nation soldiers. Akako’s mother had experienced the opposite.

She had been born in a small Earth Kingdom town, which had been taken over by the Fire Nation. Comparatively peaceful, too. A few earthbenders captured, one execution for attempted revolution. It was better than what a lot of towns experienced.

Two years later, the Earth army had retaken the town. It had been messy and bloody. Half of the houses had been burned down and there were holes in the streets which remained even ten years later. Every single firebender who had been captured had been executed. And Akako’s mother – well, the results were obvious.

Akako might be fully earth, but honestly, she would prefer being half earth and half fire if that meant that her mother would have had a child with a man she actually liked. Her mother had not told her much about her experience (understandable), but for as long she could remember, Akako had always avoided the soldiers.

Since she was old enough to understand (well, old enough by her mother’s standards – most would not consider it old enough) she had walked around town, prepared to be attacked at any given moment. It had not made for a happy childhood. She had been so relieved when the Fire Nation took control of the town once more. (And, yes, she was aware that that wasn’t “normal”, thanks Cai.)

Over the years, the number of earth soldiers had decreased constantly, so that once again, there were almost no causalities. And it might be ironic, but she felt safer in the presence of Fire Nation soldiers than in the presence of Earth Kingdom ones.

* * *

Tai was worried about his grandmother. The old lady was a little demented and she didn’t care about what she said anymore. Or maybe she couldn’t even recognize that she should not speak about things. He was just glad that she didn’t go out anymore. Couldn’t, really. Her hips, her feet, her back … she just couldn’t leave her small apartment. It was probably the only reason she hadn’t gotten in trouble.

She never hesitated to tell the stories about her childhood. And if she told any of the more extreme people in town, consequences might be … no, Tai, didn’t want to think about it. He didn’t want to imagine what would happen if she told anybody about Shen. She had been her best friend when they had been kids. That had been a few years after the war had started.

At least they had been best friends, until Shen’s family had left the village. They had been of the Fire Nation and had lived in town for the last generations. Still, they were not Earth Kingdom, they were of the enemy’s nation and they couldn’t continue living there. They, and all the other fireblooded families had been deported to the mountains near the northern air temple – cold, harsh conditions, he knew - where they were supposed to “make a new life”.

Tai was pretty sure Shen had died a few years after her deportation at the latest. He wasn’t sure his grandmother realized that. Sometimes, she talked like her childhood friend would come visit her in just a few days. Tai knew that could never happen. Even if the girl had survived against all odds, she would never return to the town of her birth. Not only was it likely connected to a lot of bad memories, but the families who had lost their homes to the Fire Nation had instead gotten the land of the deported families. They reacted quite _prickly_ if somebody so much as mentioned the former owners. And that was the reason the old lady shouldn’t talk to them at all. Because he might have to do nearly everything for his grandmother, but he loved her. And he didn’t want anything to happen to her.

* * *

It wasn’t often that the Earth Kingdom navy was able to strike against the Fire Nation navy. Their ships were made of steel, their hulls hard to pierce. Especially if there wasn’t much earth around to bend. And most earthbenders couldn’t even get on a ship for more than a few days without getting extremely sick. Fire navy ships all had firebenders aboard. And the ships of the Earth Kingdom were made of wood. Additionally, Fire Nation technology allowed them to move without regards to the wind. So, managing to sink a Fire Nation ship without sacrificing any ships of their own (actually, not having any ships they could sacrifice, because they were alone might be part of the reason. It just made it more impressive.) was quite the accomplishment.

Ma Ning had observed his crewmates when they fished out the Fire nation soldiers. Then, he had watched as his captain ordered them bound and then brought on the main deck. He had seen how proud they still stood. Refusing to bow, even when captured. Had been satisfied by the way their eyes grew wide as captain Kwai told his soldiers to draw their blades. And been horrified as he had seen every single one of them get executed. Then he fought not to puke as he and the other deckhands threw the corpses overboard and cleaned the deck.

* * *

Every child in Fatshan knew to avoid the soldiers whenever possible. Well, soldiers was a big word for them. Fatshan was pretty out of the way of everything. What they got weren’t honorable soldiers, they got what no one else wanted. They were barely better than thugs. Wong, who had been to one of the bigger cities once, had told them that there were criminal organizations who had more honor. Quietly, of course, he wouldn’t want to offend them. But frankly, no one had a problem believing him.

These so-called soldiers acted without honor. They cheated craftsmen out of their fair prices, they threatened villagers, they had no problem destroying or taking what belonged to somebody else, and the last time they had been at the inn they had waved around their swords, put their feet on the table, demanded food and drinks be brought, harassed the barman’s wife, smashed a few glasses and had insisted everybody remained while they told stories so horrible it had given half of the patrons nightmares. If an accident were to befall these men, no one on the town would say anything. But alas, they were strong, and they were too many. There was nothing anybody could do.

* * *

One of the worst things that could happen was an Earth Kingdom troop encountering Fire Nation colonials. Well, that wasn’t really true. It entirely depended on the troops and, more importantly, on the troop commander. Quite a few were honorable - or at least indifferent - enough not to threaten civilians. But if colonials had the misfortune to meet one of the less honorable ones… Well, there was quite a lot that was told in the Fire Nation about the Earth Kingdom, and most of it was rooted in fact. If they were small groups of travelers, they could expect to lose their belongings, if not their life. If they were a well of group of merchants or – what happened seldomly – nobles, it was a toss of the coin if they would be killed like everyone else, or if they would be taken hostage. (Even from these who survived, quite a lot of them later wished they had been swiftly killed instead.) It was something Fire Nation patrols dreaded finding. Torn up earth, destroyed carriages, slaughtered people.

And if a big enough group of Earth Kingdom soldiers encountered a town unprotected by Fire Nation soldiers… Well, let it never be said that it was only the Fire Nation which was cruel and that there was good reason that at least a hand full of Fire Nation soldiers were stationed at every backwater town.

* * *

There were Earth Kingdom Soldiers who actively hunted for trophies. They were probably not the only ones, war made men vicious after all. But they were the only ones Yim had actually seen displaying cut of ears of their enemies. Yim was a healer. She had seen a lot of grievous injuries. But these morbid trophies were some of worst things she had ever seen. And a part of her couldn’t help but question if they had killed people just to take their ears. It didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Healing and caring for them was her job, and she would do it. If that meant ignoring what they showed her, she would do it.

* * *

Living in a Fire Nation occupied town that got retaken by the Earth Kingdom was quite dangerous. Not because of fighting. No, the more dangerous thing was being accused of collaboration. Because helping their conquerors was sometimes considered treason. And there had been more than a few shop owners who got executed by a zealous general for ‘helping’ (read: selling to) Fire Nation people. And whatever one might say about the Fire Nation, at least that wasn’t usually a risk when getting invaded by them. The only towns that were safe from these consequences were port towns. Everybody knew that ports were more or less neutral ground. You didn’t start a fight at a place you needed for supplies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I son't intend to portray the Earth Kingdom in general in a bad light and I'm sure the Fire Nation commited their own share of war crimes. However, we see enough of these in the series. And in war, no party is innocent.


	13. Essay: Firelord Zuko

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even in the Fire Nation, students have to write essays. This one is about Firelord Zuko.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I appologize for the delay. I was studying for an exam and the only thing I have written were types of text we needed to know. As some of these practice texts are set in teh ATLA verse, I decided to post them here.

Write an essay. In your essay you should

  * Point out the ways in which Firelord Zuko has helped the Fire Nation
  * Analyse the way his friendship with the avatar could impact the Fire Nation
  * State your opinion on the Future development of the Fire Nation



Write around 400 words. Give your essay a title.

* * *

How the new Firelord changes the Fire Nation

A hundred years ago, the Fire Nation has started a war. A war which has not only harmed other nations, but themselves as well. Now that Firelord Zuko has ended the war and signed peace treaties with the other nations, things have greatly improved.

First of all, by ending the war Firelord Zuko has ended the dying of people on the frontlines and eased the suffering of these who have returned. In recent years, more than 25% of soldiers sent to battle have died during the first two years. Another 15% have been crippled. A situation which would be devastating long term. Second, he has started a project to help veterans find a job and another one to help these who have been crippled during their time in the army. This is going to help quite a lot of people – and if the people are well of, a nation flourishes.

Moreover, the Firelord is a friend of the avatar, which can only have positive effects. As there are still many Earth Kingdom lords who hate the Fire Nation, it should prevent them from attacking. After all, if there were a lord daring enough to risk the ire of the avatar, there would still be no others willing to support him. This means that the friendship between the Firelord and the bridge to the spirit world is a guarantee of peace for the Fire Nation. Moreover, other nations trust the avatar to keep the Lord of Fire true to his word and his nation peaceful.

Additionally, Firelord Zuko has entered negotiations with the Earth Kingdom. Negations regarding the colonies have this far resulted in the planning of a communal city where people of all the nations can live and work together. Besides these – admittedly vague – plans, the ambassadors have nearly worked out a new trade agreement. Despite the Fire Nation’s loss of colonies, there will be no shortage of coal and other resources. Some enthusiastic businessowners are already making plans to carter to tourists from other countries. Since the war has ended, more than a hundred Earth Kingdom civilians have visited the beaches of ember island.

In brief, Firelord Zuko has done the Fire Nation a great favor. He has ended the war, thus saving hundreds of lives and he has secured the future of the nation by forging a connection to the Earth Kingdom. And his friendship with the avatar guarantees that all parties will keep to the deal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it, even if it was something different.


	14. Email of complaint: Northern Water Tribe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot of elders are angry that Katara was allowed to learn combat bending.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another practice text. BUT that's two chapters in two days! Also, don't ask me how the NWT got email.

Write an email of complaint. You should

  * Describe why you think it’s a bad idea to teach girls combat bending
  * Describe what you think of Katara in particular
  * Give suggestions as to what should be done now



Write around 200 words

* * *

Re: the training of the first female combat bender, Katara of the Southern Water Tribe

Dear chief Arnook,

I am writing to you about the training of Katara of the Southern Water Tribe. As you are well aware of, it is against all the traditions of our tribe. Men are supposed to fight, while women are supposed to heal. They are simply not strong and dedicated enough for war. Such is the will of the spirits and breaking it will have harsh consequences.

I will admit that Katara is a capable bender and that apparently, women in our sister tribe have always been taught to fight. Katara’s fight against master Pakku was quite impressive. However, she and the avatar disrespected our entire culture by secretly attempting to teach a girl combat bending. This is a prime example of the discipline women lack and Katara should not be rewarded for her law-breaking.

As she is only a girl, she should not be punished too harshly. On the other hand, it is our duty as elders and heads of the tribe to set her and her companions straight and show them a woman’s proper place. To resolve the issue, I suggest banning our guests from training until all of them accept that a woman’s place is with the healers.

Yours sincerely,

Elder Han


	15. Article: The Not Air Nomads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are people living at the northern air temple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you don’t celebrate Christmas, have a nice day. Also, stop reading this note now. 
> 
> For all devoted christians: Jesus is born! Happy Christmas! 
> 
> And if you celebrate Christmas for a non-religious reason, I wish you a merry Christmas

Write an article about the people living in the northern air temple. In your article, you should

  * Explain the positive sides of them living there
  * Explain the negative sides
  * Explain what you think the air nomads would have thought about them



Write around 200 words.

* * *

Fliers, but not benders

Have you heard about the people living in the northern air temple? A hundred years ago, the Fire Nation killed the inhabitants. However, since 98 AG there are people up there once again. Not airbenders but refugees from the Earth Kingdom. Despite that, they have found ways to fly, using hot air and gliders. Repurposing an abandoned building and creating a home for themselves and their children.

On the other hand, in order to make the temple their home, they have to change quite a lot of things. To make flying possible, they needed to built machines and ventilation systems. To make space for the buildings they need, they have to tear down part of the temple’s original structure. Furthermore, the addition of new technology might be considered the violation of a sacred place.

Would the air nomads be angry at them for that? No, on the contrary, avatar Aang himself said: “It’s great what you have made of the place!”. These people are refugees, all they want to do is live in peace and enjoy the freedom of flying.

As far as anyone can determine, despite all the changes the airbenders would not mind the new inhabitants. They would probably just be happy that there is once again life in their temple.


	16. Report: Situation in Ba Sing Se

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Dai Li agent wrote a report.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last one of it's kind. I will probably post one longer chapter this year.

Write a report about the refuges in Ba Sing Se. In your report, you should include

  * How the living situation of refugees is
  * If there are any potential troublemakers
  * The role of the guards



Write between 200 and 400 words

* * *

To: Grand Secretariat Long Feng

From: Dai Li agent Quin

Subject: Refugees in Ba Sing Se

**Introduction**

As requested, I have written a report on the situation of refuges in Ba Sing Se. This involved observing refugees living in the lower ring, as well as talking to the head of the guard.

**The living arrangements**

As refugees often arrive in Ba Sing Se with nothing but the clothes on their backs, they cannot afford much. These who are lucky enough to find a job move into one of the small apartments in the lower ring. These who work only occasionally often band together to share one. Such “house communities”, as they are called usually consist of five to fifteen people. Refugees who do not find any work at all often sleep in the streets or occupy abandoned buildings.

**Troublemakers**

There are many thieves, as well as the occasional murderer among these who seek shelter in Ba sing Se. Usually, the city guard takes care of them. However, most refugees simply want to live in quiet obscurity. Currently, there is one boy the Dai Li are keeping an eye on. Despite being warned once already, he is accusing two tea shop workers as Fire Nation spies. There are agents ready to take him in, should he not cease to speak of the war.

**The Ba Sing Se city guard**

As previously mentioned, the guard is usually quite adept at ending problems. They take care of the day-to-day crimes such as murder, rape, and theft. Additionally, they try to take in anybody talking about the war and then let them of with a warning. The Dai Li have not done anything about it yet – as long as they know what not to talk about, there is no need to bring them to lake Laogai. The guard is also quite cooperative whenever agents demand information from them.

**Conclusion**

To sum up, the living conditions of refugees are quite poorly. Still, most of them are careful not to cause trouble and the guard can handle most of these who do. I do not believe we need to change anything about our current way of operating in the lower ring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For some reason I just imagine Long Feng talking to a Dai Li agent, ordering: "Write a report about the refuges in Ba Sing Se. In your report, you should include  
> • How the living situation of refugees is  
> • If there are any potential troublemakers  
> • The role of the guards  
> Write between 200 and 400 words"  
> It is a hilarious image.


	17. Yon Rah

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yon Rah is a former kindling and he loves working in his garden. These two facts aren't as unrelated as they may seem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually kind of liked Yon Rah, until he suggested Katara kill his mother. So, in this story, he never said that. This is part of the Kindling!AU

Yon Rah loves working in the garden. Hands in the earth, planting things, watching the life grow. Good soil, enough rain, the warm rays of Agni and good care. That is what makes his garden grow. He loves that he can work there, no hint of fire besides the warm rays of the sun on his back, and not a hint of salt on the breeze.

“Your carrots are too hard for my gums!”

Ah, yes, his dear mother. Just as patient and friendly as his _favorite_ drill sergeants.

“Would you like something else from the garden?”

He already knows she doesn’t. They are doing this every time. Still, he has to ask.

“Go get me some real food!”

He doesn’t protest, instead he starts on the long walk to town.

He and his mother have a difficult relationship. She has gotten her son back from the frontlines. A son she tried not to get attached to since the moment he made his first sparks. Who she still doesn’t want to get attached to. They are both aware of suicide rates of retired firebenders. Sometimes, it feels like they are strangers, living in the same house. Still, he is grateful to her. He is well aware that all the nagging and annoying tasks she gives him are occupying his mind, preventing him from thinking back to his time in the navy. It’s not that he regrets what he’s done – there is no room for regret in the army – but he knows thinking about it wouldn’t end well.

Great. He is feeling paranoid again today. Probably all the musing about his mother and everything associated. It’s an especially bad day.

“Have you seen something?” he asks the fruit seller – a lucky young man, nonbender, never been conscripted – just to be sure.

No, of course he hasn’t. It’s just Rah’s imagination acting up again.

He is on his way home when it gets too much. With speed honed by military drills and constant training even in retirement – not training is dangerous, not training gets you killed – he whips around and burns the bush. Shouting that no one can follow him might not serve any actual purpose, but it makes him feel better. It should suffice to calm his nerves. Two seconds later he gets thrown to the ground and a fire blast is thrown at his feet. He scrambles back, getting a good glance at the masked boy. He has a well-muscled built, but his size indicates that he isn’t fully grown up yet. Low stance – professional. The fire was hot – this is not a simple firebender self-thought or from one of the kindling divisions. This is a young noble or the son of a high-ranking officer.

Yon Rah offers him his money. A part of him is calm. He knows it’s the kindling part. On the battlefield, there is only do or die. His life being in danger is a familiar situation.

The girl asks if he knows who she is. And yes – he remembers. It was the last raid on the southern Water Tribe. A little girl he didn’t have to kill because her mother exchanged valuable information against her life. Well, it seems he doesn’t have to worry about taking his own life anymore. There aren’t many reasons the girl would visit him. And oh, she is a waterbender. Seems like there is a reason beyond wanting his raiders out of the village that the woman claiming to be the last waterbender in the south pole didn’t try to defend herself.

(He is still glad he didn’t have to put her into a waterbender prison. The fact that the back-then little girl was the waterbender all along only emphasizes the feeling. He is kindling – he knows death is often the better option.)

Yes, he is definitely going to die here. Well, it’s a form of death he never expected. He is pretty sure that death by vengeance-seeking waterbender isn’t listed in any statistics. Not anymore, at least. Maybe it had once been. He doesn’t know. It’s not important yet anyway.

He can’t prevent himself from flinching away from the ice spikes. (He isn’t part of the armed forces anymore. He doesn’t need to always be strong anymore.) He is surprised when he isn’t skewered. Rah doesn’t understand why she doesn’t kill him. But – maybe it is the smarts choice. Not for him, for her. She doesn’t need to kill him. He is already so close to death. Perhaps she can feel that.

They leave him crying in the rain. Thinking about the past. It takes some time until he finally manages to get up and to slowly collect the scattered fruits. Now to see if his mother has enough for him to do to keep all these newly awakened memories at bay. (He will have nightmares today, he just _knows_ it.) She is right when she calls him a monster. Equally right when she calls him pathetic. They all are. Monsters who kill others, to pathetic to do anything about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's still 2020 at my place, so technically, I kept my promise of one last chapter this year. ;)   
> I wish all of you a happy new year!


	18. Fire Nation/Earth Kingdom prisoners

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in the middle of the Earth Kingdom, there was a small prison. Surprisingly enugh, guards and prisoners did get along pretty well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the long hiatus. Exam season hit and then I needed a while to destress. Updates should be semi-regular again.

There was a small prison in the Earth Kingdom. Well, actually, there were many small prisons in the Earth Kingdom. Both from Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom. There were also quite a few not so small prisons. But this one, located in one of the mining villages in the west of the Earth Kingdom, was quite small.

Fang Jie had been promoted to prison commander a few years ago. Well, it hadn’t been much of a promotion, honestly. The prison was more or less “responsible” for a few smaller settlements, and as such was placed squarely in the middle of about nothing. The prison was at the same time the base for the local Fire Nation troops who controlled the mining towns.

Fang Jie had already been troop commander when he was officially put in charge of the prison. Nothing really changed. He still knew every single one of his subordinates, and he also knew each of the prisoners and townspeople. Fang Jie knew that in most cases, the prisons for earthbenders were placed in big bodies of water. This was not possible here. They were in the middle of the damn mountains. Transporting prisoners to the prison barges was usually just not worth it. It meant that they had to rely a little on the good behavior of their prisoners. But that had honestly never been a problem here.

Or, well, it might have been, fifteen years ago. That had been the last time a strict colonel had been in charge of these towns. Then he had just left and taken most of his men with him. Apparently, the area was deemed secured. From these who had stayed, Fang Jie had taken command. And he had tried his best to get along with the populace. It had been rough at first, but over the years, they had settled. Jie’s men took what was demanded from them by their superiors and otherwise left the towns alone.

There wasn’t usually anything for them to do. The townsfolk took care not to draw any attention, resolved their petty crime on their own and were as polite to the troops as these were to them. In exchange, the Fire Nation troops only investigated when they got reports. Murders and rapes had become rare over the last few years, and they seldomly saw an earthbender. (They did not take in people simply because there were rumors. If they believed every rumor about earthbenders, half of _them_ would be in prison.) It was what made their prisoners behave well. They knew they could bring trouble to their families if they attempted to escape. Because no matter how lenient Feng Jie might be, he would not be able to ignore an escape attempt.

* * *

Juan liked his job. Under normal circumstances, that would be worrying. Being a prison guard was something one would usually treat with indifference. Liking it was normally indication of being at least slightly sadistic.

He was the oldest person who worked in this district and he remembered the situation before Feng Jie had taken charge. Back then, the prison had been a place of suffering and misery. Commander Feng had taken charge when there was no official authority on site and started to … well, bullshit his way through his job.

Part of that was probably that he had had no idea what he was doing and wasn’t even officially doing the job. The person who was officially in charge was just too lazy to do anything and simply signed off on everything he was doing. The other thing had been that he was a nice and kind person. And he was good at pretending he was callous. It had started with him contemplating that if firebenders liked hot and spicy things, did that mean that earthbenders liked hard things? Following this reasoning, he had presented his case of not wanting the earthbenders to be too comfortable in prison and to hand out extra blankets.

Juan still could not believe no one had realized the absolute idiocy of that statement. Or maybe someone had, and had just decided not to draw attention to it. With the way their command structure was, _nothing_ would surprise him anymore.

He had also listened to Yang complaining that there were orders about how much to feed to prisoners, but no regulations on how much to feed to an earthbender. Firebenders needed to eat more than nonbenders. Anybody who wasn’t a monster would feed a firebender more than a nonbender. It was only logical that the same applied to earthbenders. But there were no regulations about it. So, Feng had ordered Yang to simply increase the amount of food the earthbenders were given and to watch how much they needed.

As earthbenders, as a general rule, were stubborn, but not stupid, they figured out pretty quickly that they were given more food than their nonbending comrades and acted accordingly.

About a month later, Yang had approached Juan and asked if he had noticed that the earthbenders were sharing their food and if she should do anything about it. Juan had immediately shushed his subordinate – of course he had noticed. But, so he had explained, if the statistics of how much food each prisoner needed were wrong, there was nothing anybody in their small district could do. But they had no regulations about how much food a bender got, so they had some leeway there. Yang had accepted that explanation and promised not to bother their commander about it.

Of course, no matter how much they fed their prisoners, they still were prisoners. The food they got was barely seasoned, and – that would every Fire Nation citizen confirm – tasted incredible boring.

* * *

With his sixteen years, Kenshin was the youngest person in prison. He had been caught earthbending right in front of three Fire Nation soldiers. There wasn’t much plausible deniability in the situation. They had taken him to the prison. It made for a somewhat interesting situation.

Contrary to most in the Earth Kingdom, the boy had not grown up fearing the Fire Nation. Rather, he had seen that sometimes, they were even helpful. Being in prison was still kind of a terrifying concept for him. But he knew a lot of people there. Both prisoners and guards, so it wasn’t as bad as he had feared. “His biggest problem,” Yang thought sardonically “is being very easily bored. The old people in here simply can’t keep up with his enthusiasm.” Well, it was the most interesting thing that had happened at their base in a while. They would simply entertain themselves with making sure that Kenshin wasn’t bored.

* * *

Mian could not believe the stupidity of the man right in front of him.

“You can’t _really_ think that of her!”

Juan leveled him with a flat look. “She created the Dai Li! Have you ever been to Ba Sing Se? Well, I was, briefly! And whenever you interrogate literally _anybody_ from Ba Sing Se, they will mention the Dai Li. And they are almost as terrified of them as they are of the Dragon of the West!”

“Well, I thought you Fire Nation people are always going on about ‘gender equality’. She created a female squad _before_ any Firebender had the idea!”

“You really don’t know anything about the history of the Fire Nation if truly believe that. Besides, throwing out the men is _not_ the opposite of sexism. It’s just the opposite form!”

Li groaned. They were discussing serious political topics, again. And it might be a great idea to talk with people from other nations to expand one’s view – spirits knew that he himself had learned things he never expected to learn and that he had had to reconsider some of his views – and the two never seriously started to fight about it, but please, could they not discuss these things early in the morning? Li was not a firebender who rose with the sun, and he was not an old man whose sleeping schedule was shot to Koh’s lair. He wanted to sleep, damn it!

* * *

Guards and prisoners had never had any problems with each other during the last few years. Despite being technically able to bend (and none of the guards had ever punished anybody for moving pebbles around – that would just be ridiculous) no one had attempted to escape.

This changed, when in one of the prison barges, the earthbenders revolted. After driving out the last Fire Nation troops, they set out to free nearby villages. And suddenly, the roles changed. The former guards were now imprisoned themselves, and the former prisoners were now in the position of guards. With about as much idea about how to do the job as Fang Jie had had at the beginning.

It changed surprisingly little. The interior of the prison stayed the same. They had still a lot of blankets, and the prisoners still spent most of the day outside of their cells in the outdoor parts of the prison. (Spent their time in the sun.) As none of them had any idea how much food was appropriate for prisoners, they stayed with the same ratio they had been given. (Some of the Earthbenders, however, advocated for a subtle form of torture. They spiced the food so much that no one could hope to eat it without burning their tongues.)

Neither Fang Jie nor Juan or anybody else attempted to escape. They were, of course, waiting till their guards let their guards down and got complacent.

* * *

That never happened. The war ended. The avatar defeated their Firelord. Peace talks started. Li and Mian of the Earth Kingdom had a very intense debate with Fang Jie and Juan about what that meant for all of them.

(Li thought sardonically that this kind of argument was just business as usual for Mian and Juan. It was him and Fang Jie who would need to be productive during these talks.)

(Mian thought it was quite nice that his friend and the commander got along so well. That was pretty promising, in his opinion.)

* * *

It meant that a lot of them got to go home. Not all of them, however, wanted to go.

They did not have all that many options in the Fire Nation. Some of them had never learned anything besides how to fight. And there would be a lot of other veterans just like them. The chances of getting a good job were slim.

In the mining villages, however, there was a drastic loss of men. Not just because they had been imprisoned, but because there simply weren’t that many left. Quite a few of these who hadn’t been imprisoned had fled the occupied territory and joined the Earth Kingdom military. Many of them would not come back. So, yes, there was a drastic lack of manpower now. And none of their former enemies - now friends - protested against their stay.

* * *

So, they stayed. They stayed when their countrymen returned home, they stayed when the few Earth Kingdom men who were still alive and wanted to return made it back, and they stayed when they were ordered to leave by the local authorities. Even when the Earth Army got sent to throw out the last of the Fire Nation people, they stayed.

Granted, they only managed that because the townsfolk protested that they could just not take away these people who were now officially part of their villages, but still, point was that they refused.

They simply _refused_.

* * *

They made such a ruckus that the local governor decided to delegate it to his superior. Not that the man could do anything about it. After about a year after the end of the war, the case of the still unnamed villages made their way onto the Earthking’s and the Firelord’s desk.

They were both equally startled by the information that they had to take action regarding a handful of towns so small that they weren’t even on the map. So, one of these towns got visited by the Earthking, the Firelord and the avatar.

The Earthking protested about rules and that the former conquerors couldn’t just _stay._ The Firelord pinched the bridge of his nose and rolled his eyes. Then he loudly declared that he did not want anything to do with this. The avatar was over the moon. The villagers were unimpressed. Could all these important people please get out of their village and leave them to do their daily business? All of these guards and misters and entourage crowded the streets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okey, I will admit, i have no idea what I was thinking when i wrote this. I was aiming for humorous, but I'm not sure how well i managed. Comments motivate me to write.


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